The five-day-long Durga Puja, the greatest of the Hindu festivals, ended today with the solemn immersion of Goddess Durga idols in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

In the morning, devotees celebrated Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festival, at the Puja mandaps across the country.

Devotees thronged Puja mandaps to celebrate Bijoya Dashami by reciting the mantras and offering flowers to the goddess Durga (pushpanjali) and praying for her blessings.

Each of the mandaps across the country has been ornamented with beautiful idols, showcasing the goddess in all her glory.

Bijoya Dashami is the special ceremony to reaffirm peace and good relations among the people. Families visited each other to share sweetmeats during the Dashami festivity. Married Hindu women put vermilion [sindur] on each other's forehead on the occasion.

The number of Puja pandals has increased to 29,395 this year, including 231 in Dhaka city, UNB reports.

As many as 1,767 Puja pandals were set up in Chittagong while 1,242 in Dinajpur, 1,175 in Gopalganj, 737 in Faridpur, 752 in Comilla, 606 in Bagerhat, 126 in Chapainawabganj, 629 in Magura, 519 in Brahmanbaria, 647 in Jessore and 26 in Benapole.

In the evening, the devotees bade solemn farewell to their deity Durga and her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh through immersion of their idols in the water while inviting her to return to them next year.

In the capital, thousands of people thronged the Buriganga today to observe the final phase of the festival -- the immersion of the goddess Durga, reports UNB.

According to the government directives, the immersion of Durga's idol should be done from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm on the day of Bijoya Dashami.

Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival also known as Sharadiya (autumnal) Durga Utsab, is the worship of "Shakti" [divine force] embodied in goddess Durga.

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

The five-day festival started on September 26 with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga marking Sashthi.