Durga Puja begins Monday

Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bangalee Hindu community, will begin on Monday with holding Maha Shasthi puja at temples across the country amid festivity and religious fervour maintaining health guidelines.

Durga Puja will be celebrated at 32,118 puja mandaps across the country this year while the puja will be arranged at 238 puja mandaps in the capital Dhaka, according to statement of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad.

Chattogram correspondent of the Business Insider Bangladesh reports:

Chattogram Metropolitan Puja Udjapon Parishad general secretary Hillol Sen said they have taken preparations to maintain proper health guidelines at puja mandaps.

Anwar Hossain, Deputy Inspector General of Chattogram, said they have already had a meeting with the Puja Udjapon Parishad and District Administration about the security.

Additional forces will be deployed considering the safety and security of visitors, he said adding that the number of visitors will increase this time because of ease of the lockdown with the improvement of coronavirus situation.

The five-day long Durga Puja celebration will begin with the unveiling of the face of the deity and Kalparambho on the day of Maha Sashthi on that day and it will end on October 15 with the immersion of the idols, reports BSS.

The incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga happened on Sunday ahead of the puja on the day of Maha Panchami.

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday felicitated the Hindu community in separate messages on the occasion of Durga Puja.

Maha Saptami puja will be performed on Tuesday, Maha Ashtami on Wednesday and Maha Nabami puja on Thursday. The Mahalaya, the auspicious occasion heralding the advent of goddess Durga, was celebrated on Wednesday last (October 6).

Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad leaders urged all devotees to properly maintain health guidelines and directives were issued by the government in the wake of the global pandemic during the Durga Puja celebration.

In the Dhaka city, the main puja mandaps are Dhakeshwari National Temple, Ramkrishna Mission and Math, Kalabagan, Banani, Shakhari Bazar and Ramna Kali Mandir.

According to Hindu religion, Durga Puja signifies the birth of Durga with the blessings of gods, as a collective energy, to fight the demon king Mahishasura.

Exquisitely crafted and decorated life-size clay idols of the goddess Durga depicting her slaying the demon Mahishasura are set up at temples and Durga Puja pandals.

These idols are then worshiped for five days and immersed in the river on the fifth day. The puja is performed in temples, homes and in the public, featuring temporary stage decorations.

The celebrations also include other major deities of Hinduism such as goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, prosperity), Saraswati (goddess of knowledge and music), Ganesha (god of good beginnings) and Kartikeya (god of war).

Earlier at a meeting on security measures during celebration of Durga Puja, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that law enforcement agencies will take tight security measures for ensuring peaceful celebration of the Durga Puja.

Special steps would be taken, including deployment of police forces along with members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Ansar-VDP and community police to ensure peaceful celebration of Durga Puja festivity, he said.

On Wednesday last, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued an urgent notice urging the members of Hindu community for maintaining health guidelines properly during the celebration of Durga Puja from October 11 to 15 in view of the ongoing pandemic situation. According to the notice, all priests and devotees must have to wear masks.

Hand washing system and hand sanitizer must be kept at the entrances of all the temples while if required, body temperature should be checked with a thermal scanner at the entrance, it added.

All will have to maintain social distancing during the immersion of idols on the day of Bijoy Dashami.

A central control room has been opened at ‘Dhakeshwari Mandir Melangan’ on the initiative of Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee.