Hyderabad: Religious zeal and enthusiasm mark Dasara celebrations

Hyderabad: Dasara festival is celebrated with great fervour in Telangana for two days. People thronged the temples to offer special puja in the evening and had a glimpse of Palapitta which is considered auspicious during the festive time. In Hyderabad, people celebrated the festival by exchanging greetings and hosting lunch.

Dasara, also known as Dussehra, is a significant Hindu festival celebrated with great fervour and enthusiasm in various parts of India. The festival, symbolising the victory of good over evil, is being celebrated with much hype and fanfare.

The celebrations this year were with all the events including Durga puja, dandiya, and garba at apartment complexes, community halls, temples and public places. Puja celebrations were also in full swing with milling crowds of men, women and children, dressed in their new finery, thronging beautifully decorated puja pandals and temples.

In Hyderabad, strings of bright orange marigold flowers interweaved with fresh mango leaves adorned the entrance doors of various households on the occasion. As the festivities came to an end on Tuesday, the pandals saw a huge gathering. Scores of pandals were gathered by the devotees with Durga idols across the city and the venues are buzzing with religious fervour.

Apart from the Telugus in Hyderabad, people from other communities such as Bengalis, Gujaratis and Marwaris, who have made the city their home, also celebrated the auspicious Dasara with pomp and show on the last day of Navaratri.

The community pandals including Hyderabad Bengali Samiti, Prabashi Socio-Cultural Association, Uttaran Bangiya Samiti, Utsab Cultural Association, Hyderabad Kalibari, and Bangiya Sanskritik Sangha, also organised cultural events.

Several dandiya and garba events were held in convention centres, and open grounds across the city where scores of people participated. In Hyderabad, several restaurants and cloud kitchens are setting up Navaratri menus and food festivals which include authentic Bengali cuisine to vegetarian delicacies. Temples across the city were decked up with flowers on festival day. Many people in the community also organised free food during the festival.

Moreover, devotees offered prayers to their vehicles by performing ayudha puja. The vehicle owners and drivers decorated their vehicles with flowers and offered prayers.

“It is my belief that once the puja is done on a vehicle there will be no accidents. Every year when the puja is performed it is an assurance that nothing bad will happen to any of us,” said Divya Khatri, a resident of Secunderabad.