The sound of San­skrit chants, wor­ship, bells and conch shells, dho­lak and bha­jans filled the air, as Hin­du devo­tees gath­ered at the Mar­i­anne Riv­er in Blan­chisseuse to cel­e­brate Gan­ga Dhaaraa on June 8.

The re­li­gious fes­ti­val com­mem­o­rat­ing the com­ing of Holy Gan­ga to Earth was or­gan­ised by the Hin­du Prachaar Kendra.

The cli­max of the fes­ti­val was the pro­ces­sion and im­mer­sion (vis­ar­jan) of a mur­ti of Gan­ga Maiya in the riv­er, and the re­lease of hun­dreds of yel­low but­ter­cup flow­ers along with light­ed deyas in co­conuts.

All of the items in­volved in the rit­u­als were col­lect­ed af­ter­ward in a catch­ment area low­er down the riv­er, as the im­por­tance of non-en­vi­ron­men­tal pol­lu­tion is stressed dur­ing the cel­e­bra­tions.