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Devotees bid adieu to the goddess

—Photo: Lingaraj Panda

farewell: People lined up on the roadside from Saheed Nagar to Rabi talkies to witness the immersion procession of Goddess Durga in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

CUTTACK: More than 5 lakh people had witnessed the immersion of Goddess Durga at Devi Gada on the left bank of the River Kathjodi here in the city on Monday. After the five-day Dussehra frenzy, it was the time to bid adieu to the Goddess.

The puja mandaps that were lively for the past one-week now wear a deserted look. So are also the markets as shops and business houses were closed for the day to enable the people to accompany the tableaux.

Durga puja immersion, which is called ‘bhasani’ in local parlance is a treat to watch in Cuttack as the deities come in splendid procession with attractive backdrops, huge flags of different hues with frenzied procession parties dancing to the latest tunes of accompanying music troupes.

After several rituals at the immersion place, the devotees bid farewell to the deities immersing them in river waters. As per the practice, the deities in procession march towards the Chandini Chowk mandap traditionally known as the Raja Ghara puja for a congregation called ‘melan’.

From there, the procession sneaks its way through the Choudhury Bazaar mandap to arrive at the Devi gada for immersion.

Some 20 idols were immersed on Monday by the time important tableaux came out from their mandaps and were snaking its way around the city to reach the immersion site. “Most of the idols would be immersed tonight while the remaining few would be immersed on Tuesday,” said the district SP S K Priyadarshi, who has been monitoring the immersion ceremony, leading 150 sections of police force.

Earlier the five-day puja rituals culminated with ‘Bijoya Dashami’ on Sunday with lakhs of devotees congregated at Baliytra ground and Chauliaganj school field to witness Ravana podi, the symbolic display of the victory of good over evil.

The event at Chauliaganj was held for the first time this year. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik visited the city on Sunday to offer puja on Bijoya Dashami and went around 40 pandals in the city accompanied by city legislator and his cabinet colleague Samir Dey, Cuttack Sadar legislator Pravat Biswal and city mayor Nivedita Pradhan. Except an altercation between two neighbouring puja committees on Wednesday over their boundaries, the celebrations went off peacefully in the city without any major untoward incident.

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