Dhaka: Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu Community, begins across the country through bodhon (incarnation) of goddess Durga on Friday.

The annual festival begins through Mahashashthi Puja today and will end with the immersion of the goddess’ idols on Bijoya Dashami on 11 October.

The main Durga Puja mandaps in the city will be installed at Dhakeshwari National Temple, Ramna Kali Temple, Dhaka University Jagannath Hall, Ramakrishna Mission, Anandamayi Ashram and Loknath Brahmachariya Ashram.

As part of the festival,  Mahasaptami will be held on Saturday, Mahaastami on Sunday, Mahanabami on Monday and Mahadashami on Tuesday.

According to Bangladesh Puja Utjapan Council, this year puja will be celebrated at some 29,395mandaps across the country, including 229 in Dhaka city.

Last year, the number was 29,074, including 229 in the capital, Dhaka city.

Different TV channels and radio stations will broadcast special programmes while the national dailies will publish special supplementary on the occasion.

According to Hindu faith, goddess Durga comes down to the earth from the heaven to establish peace, harmony by annihilating evil forces.

Meanwhile, stringent security measures have been in place in the capital for smooth celebrations of Durga Puja.

Several thousand policemen and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members will remain deployed in the capital during the celebrations to ensure that people of Hindu community celebrate the Durga Puja without any hassle.

Ansar members will be deployed alongside policemen in every puja mandap across the country in order to ward off any untoward incident and members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) will patrol alongside police forces in the districts adjacent to the border, said Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan while talking to reporters at the Secretariat recently.

Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages greeting the Hindu community members on the occasion.