Ganga-Devi

Wow! Okay, I will admit that I had some reservations about Varanasi yesterday morning. Oldest city = most winding, dirty streets I’ve seen since Cairo. Holy city = I can’t take part because I don’t really get it. 43C (110 Fahrenheit. In the shade.) = one parched, cranky girl. But I have wildly changed my opinion. Last night I went to the evening prayer on the central ghat, honoring Ganga Devi, or Devi as the spirit of the Ganges (I think. I'm a little weak on Hindu theology). It was beautiful. Five young men in gold colored tops and cream and red bottoms used different instruments to show worship, moving them in a 270 degree pattern, stopping the arc just right and left of their heads. Often in unison, the repetitive arcs were just beautiful – they held small lamps, ringing bells, and then progressed to holding these large oil lamps shaped like Christmas trees. I think you can see one glowing in the photo. After that, they swung cobra-headed oil lamps, and then large canisters with incense billowing out. The whole time, a man was intoning a religious song and the crowd clapped and sometimes sang along. Between prop changes, the men would throw flower petals out on the water. In the midst of all this, little kids (from as young as 3 to maybe 12, unfortunately) were running amidst the crowd selling leaves shaped into bowls, filled with flowers and a candle. You could buy them and float them out on the water. It was so beautiful. I really enjoyed it. I’ll have to look up more of what it was all about….