Baripada: The main attraction of Durga Puja organised at the Shaheed Ground in Baripada city in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district is that here Maa Durga is worshipped in the same manner as it is done in neighbouring West Bengal.
This Durga Puja is in its 90th year in 2023. Initially, the puja was started by the Bengali community in Baripada but now 80 per cent of the committee members are Odias. However, this has had no impact on the way the puja has been celebrated here over the years.
Performed in the Bengali way, Durga Puja here includes ‘jhuna’ games every evening during the festivities. This apart, on the day of Dashami (Dusshera) womenfolk engage in ‘Sindur Khela’ (married women applying vermillion on one another) in the morning.
According to Arun Ghosh, the oldest member of the committee, bhog (prasad) is distributed among all the devotees on all the days of the puja.
