Kumbh Mela Festival Day 2

Typical oil lamp

Kumbh Mela Festival-- oil lamp lighting ritual

Kumbh Mela Festival-- A family prepares to send their lamp into the river. The man on the left can be seen burning incense

Kumbh Mela Festival --- After bathing another family prepares to send an oil lamp down the Ganga.

Looking on as the oil lamp floats down the Ganga

There are many rituals that can be observed at the Kumbh Mela. My previous post, found HERE, showed a gentleman washing his past sins (karma) away in the Ganga river. Another very common ritual, besides bathing and prayers, is the lightening of oil lamps in memory of loved ones. The lighting of the oil lamps was a very moving experience as you can see from the photos. Family members take the oil lamps which are lines with flowers and make their way to the river where they say a few prayers, light the lamp, and send it on its way down the river. It’s an especially beautiful scene to be witnessed in the evening. I’m heading to Varanasi tomorrow and hope to get another post up in a couple of day. Till then…John

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 1:19 pm. It is filed under General, Travel and tagged with . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

6 Responses to “Kumbh Mela Festival Day 2”

  1. Mac Sokulski says:
    April 29, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Great candit photos. Love the colors.

  2. Craig Ferguson (@cfimages) says:
    April 29, 2010 at 8:55 pm

    Wonderful images John. Makes me wish I were there.

  3. lorinicoli says:
    April 29, 2010 at 9:36 pm

    These images are absolutely beautiful, John. What an experience this must be for you and all attending.

  4. Pat says:
    April 29, 2010 at 10:44 pm

    Terrific photos, John. I especially love the image of the woman as she watched the oil lamp float down the Ganga. You really captured her.