Smeared in ash from head to toe, a number of Naga and Aghori sadhus and their followers performed Holi alongside burning pyres in a fashion distinctive solely to Kashi, at Harishchandra Ghat.
Naga and Aghori sadhus and others participate in Masan Holi celebrations at Harishchandra Ghat in Varanasi. (Rajesh Kumar)
With some locals becoming a member of the celebration even because the sight left foreigners dazed and confused, the town of Baba Kashi Vishwanath bought off to a Holi begin on Monday. At Manikarnika Ghat, Masan Holi might be performed on Tuesday.
Below the aegis of Kashi Mokshadayini Seva Samiti—a social organisation—a procession of Baba Masan Nath was taken out from Baba Keenaram Ashram in Ravindrapuri to Harishchandra Ghat by way of IP Vijaya, Bhelupur and Sonarpura.
An office-bearer of the Samiti, Pawan Chaudhary mentioned lots of of saints and devotees participated on this 12 months’s procession during which Baba’s tableau, ‘damru-dal’ and ‘band-baja’ had been additionally a component. As quickly because the procession reached the ghat, a grand aarti of Baba Masan Nath was carried out.
Thereafter, Chaudhary mentioned, Naga and Aghori sadhus performed Holi with ashes from pyres and carried out Shiva Tandava. 5 quintals of pyre ashes had been organized for the occasion, from which the sanyasis who reached the ghat utilized ash and gulal to one another.
No trendy musical instrument was used within the procession. As an alternative, Naga sadhus and sanyasis carried out ‘tandava’ to the tunes of conventional Banarasi drums at Kashi’s Mahasmshan Harishchandra Ghat.
Chaudhary mentioned this occasion was organized yearly at Harishchandra and Manikarnika Ghats, the place lots of of Naga sadhus, renounced saints and devotees take part within the Holi of pyre ashes.
‘Against celebration by common people’
The celebration of Masan Holi brought on a row as Kashi Vidwat Parishad, a physique of intellectuals and Vedic students, had opposed it. The organisation maintained its stand and mentioned it was towards the celebration of Masan Holi by widespread folks and at households because it was towards the custom of Kashi, however not by Naga sadhus, tantriks and Aghoris. Its common secretary Prof Ramanarayan Dwivedi mentioned common folks mustn’t take part in it since such a celebration was nowhere talked about within the scriptures.
At Harishchandra Ghat, former MLC Brijesh Singh, Keshav Jalan, Nidhidev Agarwal, Santosh Pal, Muni Patel, Taman Rai, Vedvati, Madhuri, Shravan Bhardwaj, Deepchandra Vishwakarma, Shivnandan Sarvdhar, Santosh Singh, Sailu Baba, Pradeep Sahni, Narendra Seth, Pradeep Singh, Raju Singh, Pawan Choubey, Vinod ji, Anshuman Jaiswal, Anoop Vishwakarma, Bablu Shukla, Vishal Singh and lots of of devotees had been additionally current.
Pics: ‘Abir’ and ‘gulal’ had been additionally utilized by folks there. PICS by Rajesh Kumar