To spread a message on the need for protection of rivers, the Himachal Pradesh government, in a first-of-its-kind, will hold a ‘maha aarti’ of the Beas river on January 1, an official said on Sunday.
The ‘Beas maha aarti’ in Kullu town will be presided by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, he said.
121 priests have been invited on the occasion to perform rituals on the pattern of Ganga aarti, the daily evening prayer at Har-ki-Pauri in Haridwar, which sees hundreds of devotees throng the banks of the Ganges river.
“Diyas of clay or flour and leaf plates would only be used during the ‘aarti’ that will start at 5 pm,” Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus Khan, the event organiser told IANS.
Himachal Pradesh is home to rivers like Ravi, Beas, Chenab, and Satluj. Except for Satluj, which originates in Tibet, rest all trace their origin to the lower Himalayas.
(With agency inputs)