Women in Bengal bid farewell to Goddess Durga with vermillion, sweetmeat offerings

Kolkata, Oct 12 (IANS) As an air of sadness prevailed with the arrival of idol immersion time at the end of Durga Puja this year, women in West Bengal on Saturday bid farewell to Goddes Durga with vermillion, betel leaf and sweetmeat offerings on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami.

This year, Vijaya Dashami celebrations among the women wore a subdued look mainly in the backdrop of the R.G. Kar horror.

Though the crescendo of happiness and excitement starts sliding as the state's most awaited and much-revered festival approaches its last phase, the memory of the junior woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata who was raped and murdered in August this year also had an overwhelming impact.

This year, although the women performed the rituals of bidding farewell to Maa Durga, they chose to avoid the other celebrations like dancing to the beats of "dhol" and other merriments.

Many of them were even heard praying to Maa Durga so that she could ensure justice for the victim and her family members.

As per the tradition, women, mostly clad in red and white saree went to the different Puja pandals.

Following the traditional rituals, they first covered the face of Durga idol with betel leaf, smeared vermillion on the foreheads and cheeks of the idols and offered sweetmeats to Goddess.

After those rituals with the idols were over, the women smeared vermillion on each other's foreheads and cheeks.

However, the regular celebration mood associated with the second part of the rituals was missing this year, probably because of the pain-struck hearts in the memory of the R.G. Kar victim.

Explaining the rationale behind the vermillion rituals, Dolon Sengupta, a home-maker, said that for Bengalis, "Devi Durga is not just a Goddess who destroys the evil".

"She is more like a daughter at home, who after a point of time goes to her in-law's place. For us, these four days of Durga Puja, is an occasion of the daughter coming to our homes from her in-law's place. Now she is again going back to her in-law's place for a year and hence, we bid her farewell through such rituals where the vermillion, considered a ritualistic symbol for all married women, plays an important role," Sengupta said.

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