For generations, families in India have stood beside the River Ganges as darkness falls, watching flames illuminate the water while prayers, music and chanting fill the riverbank.
Next weekend, that centuries-old tradition will find a very different home – on the banks of the River Thames.
Thousands of people are expected to gather at the historic Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich on Sunday, 13 September, for what organisers say will be one of the largest Ganga Aarti ceremonies staged in the UK.
As dusk falls over London, large ceremonial lamps will be lit and raised towards the Thames while music and chanting accompany a Hindu tradition centred on gratitude – for water, nature and the things that sustain life.
For Britain’s Hindu and South Asian communities, it will offer an opportunity to experience a ceremony more commonly associated with the riverbanks of India without travelling thousands of miles.
But organisers are also hoping people with no connection to Hinduism will come along, learn about the tradition and share in its wider message about humanity’s relationship with nature.
The free event is open to people of all backgrounds and forms part of this year’s Totally Thames festival.
Ganga Aarti is perhaps one of India’s most visually recognisable religious ceremonies.
At locations along the Ganges, worshippers gather beside the sacred river as priests perform Aarti using lamps, accompanied by prayers and devotional music.
Light is offered as an expression of reverence and gratitude.
In Greenwich, it will be the Thames rather than the Ganges flowing past those gathered for prayer.
And that meeting of two rivers – each intimately connected to the history and identity of the countries through which they flow – is part of what organisers believe will make the occasion particularly significant.
Brahmacharini Shripriya Chaitanya, Resident Teacher at Chinmaya Mission UK, said: “For generations, communities have gathered on the banks of the Ganga to offer light in gratitude for the river, for nature and for all that sustains life.
“Ganga Aarti on the Thames carries that same spirit – bringing people together in a shared moment of gratitude, hope and unity.”
The event will take place across the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College before culminating with the Aarti on the Royal Steps at 7.15pm.
There will be food, community stalls, live music, dance and activities for families from 4pm, as well as an explanation of the spiritual meaning of the ceremony before it begins.
There is another significance to staging the ceremony in London.
For generations of British Indians, maintaining cultural traditions has often involved adapting them to a country very different from the one in which their parents or grandparents grew up.
Religious festivals once experienced in India have increasingly become part of Britain’s cultural calendar – celebrated not only inside temples and family homes but in some of the country’s most recognisable public spaces.
The Greenwich event takes that idea quite literally.
One of Hinduism’s great riverside traditions will be performed against the backdrop of one of London’s best-known stretches of river.
Organisers describe it as an opportunity for communities to celebrate Indian culture while inviting people unfamiliar with the tradition to understand what is happening and why.
Chinmaya Mission UK says the event requires no particular belief or previous experience and is intended to be open to everyone.
The organisation is a registered UK charity providing spiritual and educational activities based around Vedanta, a philosophical tradition within Hinduism.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the wider Chinmaya Mission, founded following the teachings of Swami Chinmayananda.
Shripriya Chaitanya said the Ganges has another significance within that tradition.
“For Chinmaya Mission, the Ganga also symbolises the flow of knowledge,” she said.
“Our founder, Swami Chinmayananda, dedicated his life to bringing the timeless wisdom of Vedanta – one of the great philosophical traditions of Hinduism – from the Himalayas into people’s everyday lives.”
She said the anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate “knowledge, service and gratitude flowing beyond boundaries”.
Despite drawing inspiration from ceremonies performed beside the Ganges, organisers have been careful about how the tradition will be adapted to its London setting.
Nothing used during the ceremony – including flowers, idols or other offerings – will be placed into the Thames.
Attendees are also being specifically asked not to put anything into the water.
Organisers say this is intended to reflect the very principle being celebrated: respect for the river and the natural environment.
That could make for a striking scene as darkness begins to fall on Greenwich.
Instead of the ghats of India, worshippers will be standing beside the Royal Steps.
The Ganges will be thousands of miles away.
But the lamps, music and prayers will carry a tradition passed through generations to another river – and another generation of families now calling Britain home.
Ganga Aarti on the Thames: A Ceremony of Light takes place at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, on Sunday, 13 September, from 4pm to 8pm. The main Aarti begins at 7.15pm. Entry is free but advance registration is required.
