Kendrapara: Boat ride for Maa Durga before immersion

KENDRAPARA: Curtains came down on the five-day Dussehra festivities with people bidding adieu to Goddess Durga by immersing the idols in Hansua river at Rajnagar block of Kendrapara district on Thursday.  

Unlike the rest of the State, the idols were carried on boats before they were immersed in the river. Sources said 16 idols were immersed in the river after being taken in a procession which moved from one village to another. A large crowd gathered to witness the ceremony. 

Carrying idols on boats has been an age-old tradition at Rajnagar where devotees swim to reach the boats carrying the idols. But now few do so as the river, which connects Bhitarkanika National Park, is infested with saltwater crocodiles. 

“Rajnagar is surrounded by many rivers and creeks.  Due to absence of bridges, in the past many puja committees used to carry the idols on boats from one village to another to allow devotees to bid goodbye to the goddess. Now the area is well connected with concrete roads and bridges. But in order to preserve their tradition, the villagers still worship the goddess on the boats on immersion day,” said a retired teacher of Rajnagar, Ranjan Das.

However, immersion of idols in the river has not gone down well with the environmentalists who feel the process pollutes the water body. Since river Hansua is the lifeline of Rajnagar and nearby areas, polluting it by immersing idols could be dangerous, they reasoned. The idols coated with synthetic paints, clothes, plastic flowers and puja paraphernalia pollute the river, Das added.