Dhaka, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — Durga Puja, the biggest annual Hindu festival, ended in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country on Friday with immersion of idols of the deity and her children.

Idols of Dhaka’s 225 puja pavilions were immersed in rivers and water bodies across the city amid drum beats and married women smearing vermilion on each other.

Thousands of devotees, young and old, men and women, were seen to join hands to lower the idols into the water amid the beating of drums, prayers and chanting of hymns.

The Hindu community’s biggest Durga religious festival began on Monday across Bangladesh.

During the five-day Durga Puja festival, the Goddess Durga is worshipped in her different forms.

This year the Durga Puja was celebrated at more than 29,000 pavilions in Bangladesh including 222 in Dhaka.

Security arrangements across Muslims majority Bangladesh have been beefed up for peaceful celebrations.