Hindus in Bangladesh take holy dip in Brahmaputra (Lead)
April 11th, 2011 - 10:42 pm ICT by IANSDhaka, April 11 (IANS) For Hindus in Bangladesh it was a sacred day as in their thousands they took the holy dip in the Brahmaputra river Monday on the occasion of the “astami snan”.
The two-day bathing ritual began early Sunday . Bathing is on at various ghats, including Rajgaht, Gandhighat, Premtolighat, Annapurnaghat, Makri Sadhughat, and Kalighat, among others in Langalbandh about 25 km from Dhaka. It will continue till midnight Monday, the New Age reported.
Tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims from across the country arrived by buses, trucks, private cars, and mechanised boats at the ghats to take the holy dip, the official news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said.
The occasion falls in mid-April every year in commemoration of Saint Parshuram, a warrior who, as per Hindu mythology, had taken bath on this day of lunar month in the Brahmaputra river and absolved himself of all sins of axing his mother Renuka Debi on the order of his father Jamadagni.
Hindus are Bangladesh’s largest religious minority, about nine percent of the population.
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