My son Krishna Gaurav Agrawal captured & edited an awesome video of #GangaAarti at Prayagraj today.

The entire ghat is illuminated with diyas to celebrate the arrival of the gods on earth

The festival of Dev Deepawali is being celebrated across the country today with traditional fervour. It is believed that on this day the deities descend to the earth from heaven to bathe in the Ganges and take a bath at major Ganga Ghats.

The Dev Deepavali (“the Diwali of the Gods” or “Festival of Lights of the Gods”^[2]) is the festival of Kartik Poornima celebrated in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It falls on the full moon of the Hindu month of Kartika (November – December) and takes place fifteen days after Diwali. The steps of all the ghats on the riverfront of the Ganges River, from Ravidas Ghat at the southern end to Rajghat, are lit with more than a million earthen lamps (diyas) in honour of Ganga, the Ganges, and its presiding goddess. Mythologically, the gods are believed to descend to Earth to bathe in the Ganges on this day.^[3][4] The festival is also observed as Tripura Purnima Snan.^[2][5] The tradition of lighting the lamps on the Dev Deepawali festival day was first started at the Panchganga Ghat in 1985.^[4]

During Dev Deepawali, houses are decorated with oil lamps and coloured designs on their front doors. Firecrackers are burnt at night, processions of decorated deities are taken out into the streets of Varanasi, and oil lamps are set afloat on the river.^[6]Owning to the significance and the growing socio-cultural popularity of this festival, it has now also come to be celebrated in nearby districts such as Mirzapur & Prayagraj.