Ganga Dussehra

Ganga Dussehra, or Gangavataran, is the great river festival that honours the avataran (descent) of Goddess Ganga from the heavens to the earth. It falls on Jyeshtha Shukla Dashami, the tenth day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Jyeshtha, which usually lands in late May or early June (in 2026 it is observed on 25 May).

• Though the day itself is the climax, the observance stretches across ten days, and nowhere does it feel more electric than in Varanasi, the city Hindus revere as Kashi.
• From dawn, the crescent sweep of ghats between Assi and Rajendra Prasad fills with pilgrims, and by dusk the whole waterfront glows for the grandest ghat aartis of the year.
• The rituals are simple, ancient and deeply moving.
• Before sunrise, devotees wade into the river for the snan, the holy dip that the Brahma Purana says washes away ten kinds of sin committed in thought, word and deed, which is the very meaning hidden in the name Dussehra (dasha, ten; hara, remover).
• Through the day people fast, offer flowers, fruit and incense, and give in tens, ten lamps, ten flowers, ten fruits.
• After nightfall comes deep daan, when thousands of tiny oil lamps on leaf boats are set adrift, turning the black water into a drifting galaxy.
• At Dashashwamedh Ghat the seven young Kashi priests raise their tiered brass lamps in the choreographed maha aarti while conches, bells and drums roll across the river, echoed on this night at Assi and Rajendra Prasad ghats too.
• The legend behind it all is the story of King Bhagiratha, whose sixty thousand ancestors, the sons of King Sagara, were reduced to ash by the meditating sage Kapila.
• To free their souls, Bhagiratha performed fierce austerities to summon Ganga to earth; Lord Shiva caught her tumbling torrent in his matted hair to soften the fall, and the river then flowed on to redeem the dead.
• Ganga Dussehra celebrates that day of grace, and it is entirely distinct from the winter cultural pageant of Ganga Mahotsav.
• Vegetarian and alcohol-free travellers will feel wholly at home, for the festival's fasting food is naturally satvik.
• Vrat plates lean on sabudana khichdi, singhare-ke-atte pakoras, fruit, makhana and milk sweets, and the lanes of Godowlia behind Dashashwamedh Ghat brim with pure-vegetarian institutions.
• Kashi Chat Bhandar's tamatar chaat and palak-patta chaat, Ram Bhandar's fluffy kachori-sabzi and Keshari's thalis are all a short walk uphill.
• One honest caution: Varanasi's famous thandai is often laced with bhang (cannabis), so at any lassi or thandai stall ask plainly for a plain, bhang-free glass; the trusted pure-veg sweet shops serve safe, family-friendly versions.