BARIPADA: Married women participated in ‘Sindoor Khela’ (game of vermilion) to bid adieu to Goddess Durga on Vijayadasami at the Sahid Padia puja mandap here on Sunday.
The ritual is performed by married Bengali women who apply vermilion on one another after applying it to the forehead and feet of Goddess Durga. Sukla Banerjee a devotee said ‘Sindoor Khela’ is a unique religious ritual and as part of it, married women dress in white saree with red border, perform arati (dhuna) and offer sweets to the Goddess.
After the ritual, the idol of the Goddess was taken in a procession and immersed in an artificial pond near Budhabalanga river. Susmita Ghosal, another devotee, said Goddess Durga comes to her parents’ house for five days. She returns to her in-laws’ house on Vijayadasami. “We perform the ritual and offer sweets to bid adieu to the Goddess,” she said.