Like some other countries in the world, Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bangalee Hindu community. The grand celebration of Durga Puja, 2020 is going to start on October 22 in Bangladesh.

This year’s Durga Puja is going to be held following some govt. directives amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. So, the puja festival can be said to have faded a lot this year. According to a reliable source, Durga Puja is being organized in about 30,000 puja mandaps across the country this year. The five-day-long festival will start on October 22(Mahashashthi) and end on October 28(Vijaya Dashami). Mahalaya ceremony related to Durga Puja was celebrated on September, 17. According to the Hindu scriptures, Durga Puja is held six days after the ritual of the Mahalaya, but this year Durga Puja is going to be held 35 days after the Mahalaya as per Hindu religious calendar.

Photo: Hindu Temple Talk

Although the modern theme puja has not started yet in Bangladesh like in West Bengal of India, famous traditional puja is organized every year in several puja mandaps of different parts of the country including Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and other big cities and towns. Durga Puja is still solemnly held at Taherpur in Rajshahi, famous for the first Durga Puja of Bengal. Besides, Dhakeswari National Temple, temples of Ramakrishna Math and Ramkrishna Mission located in Dhaka and different parts of the country, Sikdarbari Durga puja temple in Bagerhat and some other famous temples attract the devotees from all over the country.

With Durga puja just a week away the artisans of the country are passing very busy time in the puja mandaps to prepare idols, organizers are preparing puja pandals in different shapes and devotees are awaiting the days of the grand celebration.

Krishna Das

www.hindutempletalk.org