Ganges River Festival

Ganges River Festival, locally known as Ganga Mahotsava in Varanasi is one of the most important festival celebrated every year in the months between October and October.

The festival is dedicated to Goddess Ganga and the Hindus from all over India flock into Varanasi to worship the glorious River Ganges. The festival recognizes and rejuvenates the ancient charm and grace of the river. People of all classes and castes come to the River, perform worships and pay tribute to the resplendent aura and power of the river.  In the evening, the waters of the river looks gorgeous and ablaze when the devotees set afloat the earthen lamps on lotus leaves. The river front becomes packed and the entire city evokes a sense of life, energy and spirit.

The 5 day festival is full of performances that include classical vocals and dances, huge handicrafts fair and a wide variety of traditional sporting events such as wrestling, tug of war, boat racing, kite flying, and horse cart racing etc.The end of the Ganga Festival in Varanasi marks another festival named Dev Deepavali.