Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Bengali Hindu community, ended on Thursday with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga and her children in water bodies across the country amid festivity.
According to Hindu belief, the goddess Durga has returned to her husband's house at Kailash in Devaloy (heaven) through immersion.
In the capital, thousands of people thronged the Buriganga River on Thursday to observe the final phase of the festival -- immersion of the goddess.
Hindu devotees from different parts of the city came to the ghat in trucks carrying idols while singing hymns to Durga with the sounds of musical instruments such as 'Shankha', 'Khol', 'Dhak'.
Devotees were seen bidding farewell to the mother deity and her children - Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh - through the immersion of their idols, wishing Durga's return next year.
The ritual follows Hindu women putting vermilion on each other, wishing for prosperity in lives, as a tribute to the power of Goddess Durga.
This year, Durga Puja is celebrated in around 33,355 puja mandaps across the country, including the capital.
The five-day festival started on September 28 with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga, marking Sashthi.
Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival also known as Sharadiya (autumnal) Durga Utsab, is the worship of "Shakti", the divine force, embodied in goddess Durga.
It symbolises the battle between good and evil, where the dark forces eventually succumb to the divine.
