Gan­ga Dhara is a teerath-pil­grim­age site in Blan­chisseuse where pil­grims have been gath­er­ing for the past 20 years at the Mar­i­anne Riv­er to com­mem­o­rate the fes­ti­val, Gan­ga Dasha­hara. The fes­ti­val marks the com­ing to earth of the fe­male de­ity Gan­ga.

Last Wednes­day, hun­dreds of Hin­du devo­tees came from all over the coun­try and from abroad to par­tic­i­pate in the pu­jas, pro­ces­sions and to re­ceive bless­ings from pun­dits.

Dressed main­ly in yel­low and white, Gan­ga Dhara devo­tees con­duct­ed spir­i­tu­al tra­di­tions and rites and re­freshed their spir­its in the riv­er. Af­ter a day of rit­u­als that in­clud­ed cer­e­monies at des­ig­nat­ed sites en route to the riv­er, and the chant­i­ng of songs, the Gan­ga Mur­ti was tak­en up­stream and merged in the wa­ters.

Light­ed deyas were placed in small boats made from co­conut husks and devo­tees lined the riv­er wav­ing the flick­er­ing deya lights in a cer­e­mo­ny known as Gan­ga aar­ti (of­fer­ing of the deya boats). At the end of the aar­ti cer­e­mo­ny, devo­tees of­fered prayers and sent their boats with lit deyas down the riv­er.

The Gan­ga Dhara Teerath Com­mit­tee de­scribed the event as the "prac­tice of spir­i­tu­al ecol­o­gy."

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