Online Desk: Durga puja, the largest religious festival of Hindus, will end in Bangladesh with the immersion of idols on Tuesday evening.

On the last day of the puja, devotees are thronging mandaps in Dhaka and elsewhere across the country for Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the grand festival, to celebrate the triumph of the Goddess Durga over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.

On this day, families visit each other and exchange sweetmeat. Married Hindu women put vermilion on each other’s forehead on the occasion.

In the capital, thousands of people are set to throng the Buriganga on Tuesday to observe the final phase of the festival – the immersion of the Goddess Durga.

Devotees will bid farewell to the mother deity and her children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh – through the immersion of their idols in the water, wishing the Goddess Durga’s return next year.

Meanwhile, there will be strict security measures in place so that Durga Puja ends peacefully.

The five-day festival started on October 20 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” (divine force) embodied in the Goddess Durga.

It symbolizes the battle between good and evil where the dark forces eventually succumb to the divine.