Women smear each other with sindoor on Vijaya Dasami

As the five-day festivity of Durga Puja almost came to an end on Thursday (Oct 22, 2015), with the day combining both Maha Nabami and Vijaya Dasami this time, many idols were immersed in the river Ganges and other water bodies. Ahead of the immersion, women, especially married women, smeared each other with sindoor. Sindoor Khela (Or playing with sindoor) is a part of Bengali women's ritual before bidding farewell to the Goddess and they wish each other happy married life. Images by Sounak Choudhury/IBNS.