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Ganga Aarthi

the Ganga Aarti happens every evening on the banks of the Ganges River. it's a very powerful and uplifting spiritual ritual that uses fire as an offering to the Goddess Ganga.

 

The aarti is performed on a stage by a group of young pandits, all draped in saffron colored robes with their puja plates spread out before them. It commences with the blowing of a conch shell, and continues with the waving of incense sticks in elaborate patterns and circling of large flaming lamps that create a bright hue against the darkened sky. The movement of the lamps, held in the pandits' hands, is tightly synchronizing to the rhythmic chants of hymns and clang of cymbals. The heady scent of sandalwood thickly permeates the air.

 

A maha aarti (great aarti) takes place on a particularly elaborate scale in Varanasi near the end of each year on Kartik Purnima.

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Uploaded on December 28, 2013
Taken on December 23, 2012