Guwahati: The dwindling Hindu population of Bangladesh celebrated Saraswati Puja peacefully to worship the deity of wisdom, knowledge, and arts on 3 February 2025 across the trouble-torn south Asian nation. As Saraswati Puja is a major religious festival of the Hindu community in the neighbouring country, the devotees celebrate the occasion every year amid enthusiasm, festivity and religious fervour seeking blessings to enhance their creative endeavours in respective fields. All Hindu temples along with universities, colleges, schools and other educational institutions across Bangladesh organized the festival with traditional gaiety.
Dhaka University premises attracted a large number of devotees with 74 Puja Mandaps by the students, teachers and employees belonging to various departments. All-female dormitories on DU campus also worshiped the graceful deity of knowledge and wisdom. Two other advisers in the interim government of Bangladesh visited the festival in DU premises, where they expressed hope for a religiously harmonious and discrimination-free Bangladesh. Both Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan reiterated the pledge to build a discrimination-free, prosperous, and religiously harmonious Bangladesh.
Jagannath University campus in south Dhaka, where over 30 Puja Mandaps were erected by the devotees, witnessed a woman preacher performing the Saraswati Puja rituals. Samadrita Bhoumik, a student of the English department led the rituals including Bani Archana, Arati and Pushpanjali for the participants. She, in fact, had taken the initiative for the second time to break the usual belief that only male Brahmins can perform Puja rituals, whereas there is no such scripture in religious practices.
Another adviser to the caretaker government in Dhaka, Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy also attended the Bani Archana ritual at Ramna Kali Mandir in the capital city, where he commented that Saraswati Puja plays a crucial role in fostering a knowledge-based society as it upholds the value of wisdom and humanity. Dhakeshwari Mandir, Siddheswari Mandir, Ramakrishna Mission, Maa Anandamayi Ashram, Stamford University, Dhaka College, Eden Girls’ College, Tejgaon College with many other institutions in north and south Bangladesh also celebrated the festival. Earlier, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin and the interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus greeted the Hindu community on the auspicious occasion.
Saraswati Puja remains an integral part of Basanta Panchami, which falls on 5th day of the bright fortnight (Shukla Pakhya) in the month of Magh under Hindu lunar calendar. The festival also marks the transition from winter to spring season and it’s believed that Devi Saraswati was born on the sacred day to bless the human race with her eternal spirit of learning and intellectual pursuits. Besides the Hindu majority nations Bharat and Nepal, a very similar celebration is observed in Japan also, where Goddess Benzaiten is worshiped as the deity of wisdom, music, and learning. Some traditions in ancient Greece and present day China also reflect similar fortitudes.
The festival is widely regarded in eastern India, precisely in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, where the students, academicians, scholars, writers, journalists, lawyers, painters, musicians and other professionals worship the deity adoring a Veena (musical instrument), a manuscript (symbolizing knowledge), a garland (rosary) on hands and also accompanied by a divine swan symbolizing the purity and serenity. Also described as Vagdevi (Goddess of Speech), the deity finds place in Rig Veda, one of the four sacred ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, where Saraswati is primarily described as a mighty river as well as a goddess of truth, wisdom and eloquence.
However, unpleasant news surfaced from Kolkata as the city-based Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, where Saraswati Puja organizers needed police surveillance as some ‘outsiders’ threatened the girl-students with rape for organizing the festival. Following a petition filed by some students, Calcutta High Court directed the city police to engage a top-ranked official to monitor the security scenario during the festival so that the students celebrate the festival without any hindrance.
