This was a major part of what our guide considered the highlight of our trip to India, along with our whole evening. This was the Aarti Ceremony at the Dashashwamedh Ghat. (Ghat = steps leading into the river or water) We boarded a small boat with benches and watched the ceremony from the Ganges River. The Aarti is a loud, noisy, musical, lighted, incense-spewing, boisterous and jubilant celebration that is held every night. At this ghat, seven priests took about thirty minutes to perform the ceremony, celebrating the setting of the sun, though long after the sun had set. This ceremony also celebrates the worship of fire and there is also a much smaller celebration in the morning celebrating the rising of the sun. Music plays, bells jingle, drums beat, people chant, and throngs of local people and tourists observe it all.

You can see three of my photos of the Aarti Ceremony but these photos really don’t begin to help you understand the whole event. To try and do that, you can search for videos on U-Tube of it and I’m certain that you can find some. A video will help you to better understand the “noise” part and you can also see the event being performed. Turn up your volume if you want it to sound like what we heard. Of course, you still won’t be able to “smell” the event, but you are probably grateful for that….