During the evening we decided to witness our first Ganga Aarti .The Ghats were getting prepared for the pooja with 6 stands for the priest to perform the pooja beautifully lit and decorated .All the buildings are also lit so colourfully. Behind the stands there was arrangement for people to watch the pooja. Also there were also arrangements to see the Aarti from front view from the boat which costs 50 per person, it’s not very expensive and if you are witnessing the Ganga Aarti for the first time you must sit here n watch it, you can see the beautiful Ganga Aarti been performed over here.
Ganga Aarti starts at the sunset and stretches up to 15 to 20 minutes. Ganga Aarti which is being performed by 6 priest all dressed in uniform of Maroon sweater and cream colour dhoti with cream colour veshti.As they perform Pooja with different procedures by lighting the lamp in all four directions. This Pooja is being offered to the Holy River Ganga and it happens every evening and every morning in the same method. It is so mesmerising to view that Ganga Aarti it is like magic the synchronisation of the priest and the bhajans which is being sung in the background everything is so magical it is a lifetime experience to see that because you go into that essence of the Pooja and you get spell bound in its whole essence, it is very beautiful.
Note: After the Ganga Aarti there is a Devi temple over there and they distribute Khichdi as the Prasad because simultaneously with the Ganga Aarti Evening Aarti in the temple also starts and finish at the same time so after attending the pooja.
Al so second day we went to watch the Ganga Aarti from dashashwamedh Ghat but from behind this time also it was as magical as it was from the front view because this pandit perform the pooja from all the four sides north south east west so whenever you are sitting you can witness the pooja as the grand as it is. The ambience when Ganga aarti is performed and everyone is involved its prayers and bhajans is mesmerising.
On the third day and last evening in Banaras to be decided to watch the Ganga Aarti from Shitala Ghat and this time we felt that dashashwamedh Ghat has much more elaborate Ganga Aarti than shitala Ghat the difference between both is Dashashwamedh ghat is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Shitala Ghat is for Goddess Parvati so all the bhajans which are sung in Shitala Ghat is regarding Devi and there will be difference in the way they perform the pooja and the number of priests performing the aarti were also less. The Ganga aarti in Dashashwamedh ghat is extravagant however in Shitala ghat is much more subtle.
Fourth day we decided to visit the Ghat in the morning to watch the morning Pooja and so what we saw the difference is in the morning there is only one priest which performs the Ganga aarti in the dashashwamedh Ghat as compared to 6th priest in the evening This is a different experience to see Ganga aarti before the sunrise.
Harrytinkers travelog 