With heavy hearts, devotees bid farewell to Goddess Durga across Northeast

The five-day-long Durga Puja festival, which is celebrated with fervour in Tripura and other Northeastern states, came to an end as per religious schedule on Thursday with the beginning of immersion of idols on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami.

Chief Ministers and top political leaders were busy visiting pandals and participating in various rituals of the Durga Puja, for which security arrangements were further tightened and various measures were put in place to hold the festivities peacefully.

Dussehra is also celebrated separately in many places by people of different communities. However, according to the reports of Tripura police, immersion of near about 25 per cent of the 2,983 idols took place on Thursday across Tripura with the devotees, comprising men, women and children, to bid adieu to the Goddess Durga and her children with a heavy heart as the Hindu’s biggest annual festival came to an end.

Amidst an environment of sadness before immersions, married women of different ages in different northeastern states on Thursday, following traditions, bid farewell to Goddess Durga with vermillion, betel leaf and sweets offerings on the occasion of ‘Vijaya Dashami’.

As part of 'Sindoor Khela', married women applied sindoor (vermilion) on the goddess and offered sweets to her, followed by applying sindoor on each other's faces.

In Guwahati, before the immersion of some idols in the Brahmaputra and other major rivers in Assam, colourful immersion processions went around different cities. Though few of the idols were immersed on Thursday in Assam, Tripura and other northeastern states, most of the idols are likely to be immersed in the next two to three days.

Traditional themes, prevailing issues and events dominated the puja pandals in the entire Northeastern region, with historical events forming part of the themes for decorations.

In Agartala, as per the traditions, the idols of Durgabari temple lead the Dashami procession and are the first to be immersed at Dashamighat in the state capital with full state honours, with the state police band playing the national song.

The 149-year-old Durga Puja at the Durgabari temple, initiated by the then kings and subsequently sponsored by the Tripura government for the past over seven-and-a-half decades, continues to draw devotees from different parts of India and the neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh.

Tripura, irrespective of being governed by the Left or the non-Left parties since it merged with the Indian Union 76 years ago (in October 1949), is possibly the only state in the country where the government continues to sponsor the 149-year-old Durga Puja, which is also closely overseen by both the erstwhile royal family and the West Tripura District administration.

The merger agreement made it mandatory for the Tripura government to continue the sponsorship of temples run by the Hindu princely rulers. This continues even 78 years after India’s Independence.

The festivities, also being organised in ethnic violence, devastated Manipur in a much subdued manner. Durga Puja, though in small numbers, is also held in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram, the three northeastern states dominated by the Christian community.

In view of the unrest in Bangladesh, the vigil along the India-Bangladesh border with Assam and Tripura has been further tightened, and the state authorities have asked the Border Security Forces (BSF) to maintain a strict vigil along the international border to foil any infiltration attempt and cross-border movement of inimical elements.