Crowds swarm ghats & temples in Kashi on Maghi Purnima, Ravidas Jayanti

Varanasi: Lakhs took holy dip in Ganga on Maghi Purnima, while Ravidas Jayanti celebration at his birthplace in the Seer Gowardhanpur area witnessed participation of huge crowds comprising people from across the globe, on Sunday. At birthplace of Sant Ravidas, many prominent figures, including Punjab minister Ravjot Singh and Bhim Army's Chandrashekhar, also reached the temple.Congregated at Ganga ghats since Saturday night, devotees started bathing in the holy river in early hours, while many also performed rituals of Deepdaan. Most devotees joined queues leading to Kashi Vishwanath Dham to offer prayers amid chanting of ‘Har-Har Mahadev'. In view of huge congregation at the ghats and KV Dham, district administration and police ensured tight security and crowd regulation arrangements. The entire shrine area and roads leading to it were monitored through drone cameras as well.
The three-day Ravidas Jayanti celebration to mark the 649th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas gained momentum with garlanding the statue of Sant Ravidas at Ravidas Park in Nagwan by Sant Mandeep Das in the morning. It was followed by hoisting the 120-feet tall ‘Hari Nishan' flag of the Ravidasiya religion on temple premises.These rituals are usually performed by Shri Guru Ravidas Janamsthal Charitable Trust's chairman and head of All India Ravidassiya Dharm Sant Niranjan Das. As the latter returned to Jalandhar on Saturday, Sant Mandeep Das led all events and rituals amid chants of ‘Ravidas Shakti Amar Rahe', Jai Gurudev and Dhan Gurudev. The Ravidas Amritvani recitation ongoing in the temple concluded with bhog. After aarti, the temple opened for darshan. Devotees thronged the city from different states and abroad and joined separate queues for women and men since late Saturday night.Apart from the temple, main pandal installed at the park built at Sant Ravidas's birthplace remained abuzz with discourses and bhajan kirtan. Sant Mandeep Das conducted the proceedings on stage, while trustees, including K L Sarova, welcomed the guests. Ravidas Jayanti fair pulled a huge crowd, especially followers enjoying the stalls selling items such as garments, books, posters and toys. Thousands of devotees also consumed prasad at the temple langar (mass cooking).With sunset, the temple and fair area started glittering with beautiful lighting, while a series of religious processions, taken out from different parts of the district, started reaching the temple road.