Durga puja passes off peacefully in Tripura

As Durga Puja reached its last day on Tuesday, people, along with their families, thronged the bank of Howra river to bid goodbye to Goddess Durga.

The final day of Durga Puja is 'Mahadashamim', where Goddess will go back to 'Kailash' once again.

The immersion ceremony symbolises the end of the goddess's annual sojourn to her paternal home, and she returns to her husband Lord Shiva at their heavenly abode at the Kailash mountain.

As the day progressed, women thronged at marquees (makeshift temples) across the city to bid farewell to the Goddess and her four children with vermilion and sweets.

"We have very peacefully celebrated the puja, along with our neighbours, and we have enjoyed. At present, we are feeling bad as it is immersion of Maa Durga, who is leaving us, but at the same time, we are also happy that she will be back the next year," said a devotee, Mita Sarma Roy.

'Sindoor Khela' (smearing of vermilion) marks the day, when married Bengali women attired in traditional dress smeared each other with red vermilion wishing long life for their husband and peace and prosperity for their families.

Meantime, another devotee Sumanta Chakraborty said, "We hope that Goddess Durga will bring peace and prosperity to us."

"With a sad note today, the immersion is going on, but we hope next year she will fulfil all our dreams," Chakraborty added.

Overall, the puja this year was totally free from any untoward incident, and all immersions will have to be completed in two-three days.

On the fifth day, Mahadashami puja formally starts with special worships, 'yagna' and 'maha aarti', followed by Darpan Bisarjan (ritually bidding adieu to Goddess Durga and her four children - Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesha); though idol-immersion started in the afternoon.

Dr Somdeb Banik, a devotee, said: "After three days' of puja, we are having this 'bisharjan' (immersion), so we are feeling very sad. For the last three days, since morning seven to evening, all the women of our housing society were engrossed with all these things, and today, when we bid farewell to the Mother Durga, we really are sad. The only hope that we have is that Maa Durga will come again the next year, and we will celebrate again."

Elaborate security arrangements by the city police as well as the civic authorities were in place on various ghats to ensure that the immersion passed off peacefully.

This year, the Agartala Municipal Corporation has made special arrangement for the immersion by deploying its volunteers for the purpose to reduce the risk of accidents and water pollution of the river.