Beautifully Choregraphed Ganga Aarti at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, Banaras, Uttar Pradesh || A must-see event for tourists and devotees alike
Apart from its spiritual and mystical appeal, Banaras is famous for a lot of other things. One of them is the spectacular Ganga Aarti that is conducted every evening on the Dashashwamedh Ghat. There are similar aartis conducted on other Ghats as well, but the perfection with which it is conducted on Dashashwamedh Ghat is unparalleled.
I am not sure how it is on other days, but the day we were there, some VIPs were expected here, so some of the best viewpoints were blocked for them. We managed to find some stairs from where we could get good angles for photographs and videos and even though we were asked to move many times, we stayed put, along with a few other people. At the end the VIPs did not turn up and everyone forgot about us.
The seating got full very quickly and by the time the Aarti started, people were seated on all possible places - podiums, stairs. even the boats parked on the river bank. In fact, the boats would provide a great view, but the boat people were charging for this. And we were very happy with our view from the staircase.
The Pandits who were performing the aarti were dressed in light pink kurta and sandalwood-colored angavastra and dhotis. They all looked quite amazing to be honest. There was no shoddiness, no frivolous smiles. All of them carried a look of concentration throughout the ceremony. On another ghat, we saw the pandits in gerua colored kurtas.
The aarti lasts for around 45 minutes and has several stages. As many of our auspicious events do, the Ganga Aarti at Dashaswamedh Ghat also starts with the blowing of the conch shells. The crowd around also falls silent as soon as the process begins.
The Pandits then ring the brass bells in synchronization. And now begins their process of rotating in clockwise direction so that each offering can be made to all the directions. And they do so in perfect sync with each other. It shows years or at least months of practice.
Offering of fire in form of brass lamps stacked in the shape of a temple's shikhar, is the high point of this aarti. The site of these gigantic lamps rotating in sync is quite a spectacle. These lamps would be really heavy, so one needs to take a moment and appreciate that not only is this a matter of practice, it is also physically strenuous work.
Chauri, a fan with a metal or wooden handle, and a brush-like fan made of white nylon hair, which is normally seen in Gurudwaras, can be seen here as well. The slow waving of chauri creates a rather hypnotic, mesmerizing effect.
There is also an offering of marigold flower petals and the sight of it is simply beautiful. I think the aarti is a fantastically choreographed event and substantial amount of attention has been paid to the aesthetics of it. The marigold petals floating down create a spectacle for sure.
Apart from the stacked lamps there is also the offering of camphor in large brass lamps that are shaped rather interestingly. Sheltering the diya full of camphor is the head of a cobra and when this camphor is lit, it engulfs the head of the Cobra. Not sure if that is supposed to signify something, but it looks quite surreal.
There are offerings of incense as well, to all directions once again. All of this creates a wonderful atmosphere and you find yourself being drawn into the ceremony. The ceremony is designed to please devotees as well as tourists. However, we found we felt one with everyone else there.
The ceremony concludes with the pandits getting together and singing the aarti and this is the moment when everyone else joins in as well. No one can stay unaffected at this moment. Everyone seems to be participating in their own way - tourists and devotees alike.
The Ganga Aarti is performed at Dashashwamedh ghat as well as at the adjoining Ganga Ghat. The ceremonies are more or less the same, but I feel the finish is much better at Dashahwamedh Ghat. And, therefore, you will find a bigger crowd here.
While some can call witnessing the Ganga Aarti a touristy thing to do when at Banaras, it is not just that. You need to see it once to really understand what it means to people. There were people who wanted their families to witness all this online.
I observed one gentleman in particular who was on video call with his teenage son throughout the aarti and his son was watching it with him. It was unbelievable. For one, I have rarely seen this kind of a bonding between a father and his teenage son. And second, it is very rare that teenagers are interested in watching an aarti on a video call.
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