Banana stems Tk 200, lotuses Tk 20: 14 traders bring Lakshmi Puja items from Babuganj village to Barishal city, makeshift market buzzes
Photo: Collected
Buyers are thronging markets in Barishal city to buy various puja items, including banana stem rafts, banana sheaths, paddy, durba grass, bel leaves and lotuses. The market for puja items in the city has become lively ahead of Lakshmi Puja, one of the major religious festivals of the Hindu community.
Traders who came from villages are also busy selling these goods ahead of the festival.
A visit in front of Momtaz Mojid Secondary School on Swaroad in the city on Saturday found a makeshift puja items market set up by the roadside. Sellers sat with various items on display, and the flow of buyers created a festive atmosphere.
Gopal Sarkar, who came to buy puja items, told BSS, ‘These items will be used in the worship of Goddess Lakshmi. Through this, seasonal traders will also earn some money and become self-reliant. That is why I came to get puja items. I bought the items used in Lakshmi Puja at comparatively low prices.’
Sellers said 14 traders have come to the city with various puja items from Arjun Majhi village in Chandpasha union of Babuganj upazila. They include Dipak Bepari, Sushil Bepari, Robin Karati, Samir Mal, Nimai Shikder, Ashik Gain and others.
Trader Jhontu Bepari said that every year during Lakshmi Puja they come to the city for one day to sell puja items.
According to Ashik Gain, he has been in this business for five years. He too comes to the city once a year, during Lakshmi Puja, to sell various puja items.
According to prices given by the sellers, paddy, ashok, mankachu, turmeric and afan are being sold together for Tk 20. Besides, bel leaves are selling at Tk 15, banana stem rafts at Tk 200, banana sheaths at Tk 20, nolthuri flowers at Tk 20, betel nuts at Tk 35, banana leaves at Tk 10, keora flowers at Tk 10, mango leaves at Tk 10, durba grass at Tk 10, tulsi leaves at Tk 10 and lotuses at Tk 20.
Barishal Metropolitan Puja Udjapan Parishad General Secretary Gopal Chandra Saha told BSS that Lakshmi Puja is an important religious festival for the Hindu community, around which devotees show great enthusiasm. As various items are needed to perform the religious rituals of the puja, sales of these items have increased in the city’s markets ahead of the festival.
Preparations for the puja are now under way in various homes across the city on the occasion of Lakshmi Puja. The buying and selling of items has spread a festive mood across the makeshift markets.
