We got to see the spectacular Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedha Ghat, Varanasi, in the evening of 22nd March 2019. We witnessed the entire ceremony sitting on a boat right in front of the venue, the boat touching the steps of the Ghat! This is the second time that my wife is witnessing the Aarti ceremony; the first time was on 3rd August 2012 when she visited Varanasi along with her sisters. Though I have visited Varanasi once before, this is the first time that I got to see this spectacular Aarti for the holy River Ganga – fondly and reverentially addressed as Ganga Ma in the North and Gangamma in Telugu, meaning Mother Ganga. And what a spectacular ceremony indeed, of close to an hour!
See this for yourself in the Video I have made and provided below this article. The first 16:30 minutes of this Video, showing highlights of the Aarti ceremony is filmed by me and the rest of it is a full version of the Aarti from a special event in the recent past.
This Aarti is organized by the Ganga Seva Nidhi, and performed by seven priests in a highly synchronized fashion blowing conches, Aarti by waving dhoop sticks, a variety of oil lamps like multi-tiered lamps, snake hood lamps, camphor lamps and so on and then with Peacock feather fans and Yak tail fans. With the accompaniment of sacred and melodious hymns and several temple bells ringing! You can see all this in my video.
And on 24th March morning as the Sun was beautifully rising over Ganga we witnessed the morning Aarti by a single priest, sitting next to his platform and receiving the Aarti by virtually touching it! Bottu and Prasadam! This Aarti ceremony was organized by Ganga Seva Samithi, in a different location of Dashashwamedha Ghat. I would have been very happy to shoot this Aarti ceremony and the beautiful Sunrise over Ganga, but this was not possible, either on 23rd or 24th March because we went for early morning Darshan of Lord Kashi Vishwanath where we are not allowed to carry cameras and walked straight down to the Ghat to witness the Sunrise and Aarti.
Now you may please watch, enjoy and be blessed by the Ganga Aarti Ceremony:
At the most divine Varanasi, sitting in the lap of the mighty and holiest River Ganga,
I remain immensely enthralled with the greatness of Varanasi and beauty of Ganga!
- N. Lalitha Raghu.
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