Ganga Aarti on the Thames: India’s river ritual can transcend borders

This September 13, the Thames will host the celebrated Ganga Aarti. While some hackles may be raised regarding how 'secular' Thames will be cosplaying 'sacred' Ganga, this line of literal-minded thinking completely misses the point.

For one, a devotional ceremony of fire, chant and rhythm transplanted from Varanasi's ghats to a British riverbank will be spreading a show of true grandeur and beauty that cuts across cultures and religious dispositions.

What is being attempted here is much more than diaspora nostalgia. It's bringing a show of worship with its associative enchantment beyond its usual ghats.


Also, extension of Ganga to Thames underlines the wisdom in Advaita Vedanta, the complete line of which reads, 'Ayam bandhur ayam neti ganana laghuchetasam, udarcharitanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam' - 'Distinction of 'this person is mine, and this one is a stranger' is made only by the narrow-minded, for those of noble character and broad wisdom, the entire Earth is but one family.' What holds for persons, holds for rivers.

Bengal's Durga Puja is now a worldwide festival. 'Western' Christmas Eve midnight masses have been a global phenomenon for a while. Each has become globally recognisable, a shorthand for cultural identity. Just this week, organisers of Jaipur Literature Festival announced that they will bring the by-now recognisable, 'Jaipur'-stamped, event-experience involving writers and artists across 7 cities in the US and Canada in Sep-Oct.

Ganga Aarti can bring the same kind of unique experience of sacral 'light orchestra' to the Thames, Yangtze, Amazon, Danube, Seine.... Cultural prestige, after all, grows when rituals mesmerise beyond borders. Making India a curator of global river rituals with Ganga as its 'adi' is a bonus.