Kolkata, Oct 6 (IANS): The sadness was palpable, as if people were bidding goodbye to one of their own. Idols of mother goddess Durga and her children were immersed in Ganga river and other water bodies across West Bengal on Bijoya Dasami Thursday, marking an end to five days of frenzied puja festivities.

In Kolkata, the streets were choked with immersion processions. All roads led to the Ganga where millions gathered to watch the idols being immersed in the river. Bijoya Dasami marks the end of Durga Puja, the biggest festival of eastern India which saw thousands flocking to eye-catching marquees in the past four days.

Police said security arrangements were beefed up across the city and at the ghats or river banks. CCTV cameras had been installed at the immersion sites.

In keeping with tradition, the idols of Goddess Durga along with those of her four children - Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik - are immersed with much fanfare across the state.

Married women smeared the deities and each other with 'sindur' or vermilion and offered sweets to the idols. They prayed for the well-being of their families and the long lives of their husbands.

"Every year I enjoy sindur khela on Bijoya Dasami. This year is no exception," said 42-year-old house maker Moumita Basu.

Students of schools and colleges were seen at marquees with their books and pens in the belief that the goddess would bless them with a good academic record.

After the immersion of idols, Bengalis wish each other "Shubho Bijoya" - or Happy Bijoya Dashami - and visit each other's place with sweets. All sweet shops in the state were crowded since morning.

However, not all idols across the state are immersed on the same day. While the traditional puja organisers conduct the immersion on Dashami, some community puja organisers keep the idols in the pandals for one or two more days.

Thousands of people thronged Babughat, a popular stretch on the banks of the Ganga, to watch the grand immersion spectacle as chants of "Bolo Bolo Durga Mai Ki Jai" (Hail, Mother Durga) rent the air. Men and women were seen dancing.

Indian mythology says Durga Puja celebrates the annual descent of the goddess and her four children to her parental abode on earth. The goddess stays for four days to eradicate all evil from earth and on the fifth day of Dashami begins her return journey to her husband Lord Shiva's abode at Mount Kailash in the Himalayas.