DHAKA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- With great enthusiasm, the Hindu community in Bangladesh on Monday celebrated the Saraswati Puja Festival by worshipping Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of knowledge, wisdom, arts and music.
The Hindu festival here also marks the preparation for the arrival of spring.
Traditionally, Hindu toddlers are introduced to education and learning on the day of the Saraswati festival, and this ritual is called "Hatekhori" in Bangladesh.
Since Monday morning, the festival has brought together Hindus to the temples in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Major Hindu temples, schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions staged celebrations of the festival with traditional gaiety and religious fervor.
In a gesture of solidarity and goodwill, Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, in separate messages, greeted the members of the Hindu community on the occasion of the Saraswati festival. ■
