Mahasaptami today

Hindus worship at Dhakeshwari National Temple in the capital as Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the community, started yesterday. photo: Banglar Chokh

On the second day of the five-day Durga Puja, the Hindus will celebrate the Mahasaptami puja today marking the goddess's victory over demon Mahishashur.
The worshippers will sing hymns and offer flowers seeking the blessings of Durga, the saviour of humanity from all evils. The victory of Durga symbolises the triumph of good over evil.
The Mahasasthi puja was celebrated yesterday, the first day of the largest religious festival of Bangalee Hindus, with the mandaps (altars) wearing festive looks and getting reverberated with the sounds of dhaak (drums), brass instruments, and conches amidst hymns by Brahmins.
Thousands of people of the religious community gathered around the puja mandaps to receive Durga and her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh.
The Hindus believe the goddess descends on earth at the invocation and supplication of the worshippers through Bodhon rituals during the Mahashashthi, the formal start of the puja.
On the occasion, the government has taken adequate security measures at the mandaps, said law enforcers.
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmud Khandker last evening visited the Dhakeshwari National Temple and directed the law enforcement agencies to perform duties with the maximum alertness.       
Around 28,600 mandaps have been set up in the country, including 221 in Dhaka, on the occasion. Additional police and ansars have been deployed at different mandaps.
The mandaps at Shankharibazar, Tantibazar, Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University, Ramna Kali Mandir, Dhakeshwari Mandir, and Ramkrishna Mission were a few of the prominently decorated ones exuding the colours of the festival.
Different socio-cultural organisations greeted Hindus on the occasion.
Dhaka Mahanagar Sarbojaneen Puja Committee will distribute new clothes today among the poor people.