Indagare Tours: Evening Ganges Aarti Ceremony

Each evening at dusk, the Ganges aarti prayer is performed by five Brahmin priests at the Dashashwamedh ghat in the center of Old Kashi. During the ceremony, which attracts crowds of pilgrims and visitors, the priests perform a special ritual to ward off evil and put the sacred River Ganges to sleep using objects such as lamps, incense, conch shells, bells and water. Aartis are performed to acknowledge respect, good will, benevolence and gratitude, and the evening aarti river ceremony celebrates these aspects of the Ganges as a divine element.