Lolark Shasthi is a festival celebrated near the

Tulsi Ghat Tulsi Ghat is one of the ghats in Varanasi. It is named after poet Tulsidas who lived there while he wrote the Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa. Earlier, Tulsi Ghat was known as Lolark Ghat. It was in the year 1941 that Tulsi Ghat was made p ...

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It falls during the

monsoon season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

, on the sixth day of the bright half of the month of

Bhadrapada Bhadra or Bhadrapada or Bhādo or Bhadraba ( Bengali: ভাদ্র ''bhādro''; Hindi: भादों ''bhādo''; Sanskrit: भाद्रपद ''bhādrapada''; ''Bhādra''; ''Bhādravo''; ''Bhadraba''; ''Bhadô'') is the sixth month ...

(usually in September).

Observances

Dedicated to

Surya Surya ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchaya ...

, the Sun God, Varanasi will witness the holy dip taken by thousands of female devotees in the ancient

stepwell Stepwells (also known as vav or baori) are wells, cisterns or ponds with a long corridor of steps that descend to the water level. Stepwells played a significant role in defining subterranean architecture in western India from the 7th to the ...

pond of Lolark Kund (a sacred water body) and mark the festival of Lolarak. Couples from Varanasi and its neighbouring villages will perform religious rituals and pray to Lord Lolark Aditya that they be blessed with a child. Devotees will leave their clothes and a fruit or a vegetable (from which they pledge to abstain thereafter) in the kund after taking a holy dip in the Lolark kund. Many do so with hopes for a male child/heir or offspring. As thousands come to bathe in the holy waters of the Lolark kund at sun rise, a makeshift colourful bazaar mushrooms around the kund. Families cook puris on open camp fires all around the ancient kund. Steps lead down to the Kund from three sides. On the fourth side, the kund takes the shape of an enlonged, arched well, pointing into the direction of the rising sun (Ganges). Some devotees also throw considerable amounts of gold jewellery into the pond, which may later be harvested and distributed amongst the

Mahant Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in Indian religions. James Mallinson, one of the few westerners to be named as a mahant, describes the position of a mahant as a combination of an ...

and

Brahmins Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

in order to finance the event and its clean-up afterwards.

References

Hindu festivals Religious festivals in India Culture of Varanasi {{Hinduism-stub

Observances

See also

References