Masum Hawladar, Bagerhat: The Ras Utsav festival at Dublar Char in the Sundarbans ended with a holy bath. This year`s Ras Puja has come to an end with puja-religious worship and a holy bath at Dublar Char without any formality. After praying and bathing on the beach on Monday morning, the Hindus left for their respective destinations.
Ras Utsav is a Vaishnava religious festival in imitation of Lord Krishna`s Brajlila. The festival is celebrated by the people of the Hindu community to transform the rich, theoretical juice of Lord Krishna from a living soul to a paramatma through a procession. The festival has been celebrated for 200 years at Alorkole in Dublar Char in the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal by river from Mongla in Bagerhat. The people of the Hindu community sit in the Char Alorkol area of the Bay of Bengal and bathe in the full moon tide so that all their sins are forgiven. Apart from the Hindu community, thousands of people of different religions and castes attend the festival. Every year, more than half a lakh people irrespective of religion and caste participate in the festival. But due to cyclone Bulbul in 2019, Ras festival was not held in Sundarbans. And because of Corona, no fair has been organized in Ras festival this year. Access was reserved only for Hindus. In all, more than three thousand followers of traditional religions have participated in this year`s Ras festival.
Md. Kamal Uddin, President of Rash Utsav Implementation Committee, said that Ras Utsav was organized on a very small scale to avoid corona infection. This year we have successfully completed this festival with the cooperation of everyone. There was no problem. When Corona left the world, he said that the Rash festival would be organized as grandly as next year.
