Today is the 14th day of the ongoing Pitru Paksha Mela in Gaya, Bihar. The process of reaching Gaya from India and abroad continues unabated. On Thursday, five women devotees from Russia reached Devghat on the Falgu river and performed Pind Daan with full rituals to pray for the salvation of their ancestors and peace of the soul. The special thing was that all the women were in Sanatani costumes. Sitting on the ground, he performed the puja under the guidance of the priests and completed the process of Pind Daan. Seeing the foreign women performing rituals according to Indian tradition, the people present at Devghat also stopped for a while.
After knowing the religious significance, the decision to perform Pind Daan was taken
Jagdish Shyam Das, the priest of the Gaya ISKCON temple, said that after knowing the rituals performed for the ancestors and its religious significance, these women of Russia decided to perform Pind Daan in Gaya for their ancestors. In July, some foreign tourists from Russia came to Gaya. During this time, he reached the ISKCON temple, where he was informed about the religious significance of Gaya and the ancient tradition of Pind Daan. The propagation of Sanatan Dharma and Indian spiritual traditions abroad by ISKCON is also having an impact. There is a growing interest among foreign devotees to know and experience Indian religious traditions up close.
Even before this, devotees from many countries performed Pind Daan.
It is being told that even before this, foreign devotees from many countries including Australia, Ukraine, Africa have performed Pind Daan and other religious rituals in Gaya. In this way, the faith of devotees from not only the country but also abroad is being seen in the Pitru Paksha fair.
Not just travelling, foreigners coming to understand the tradition
According to people associated with ISKCON, now foreign devotees are not reaching Gaya just for tourism. They are also interested in understanding the religious beliefs, tradition of tarpan and pind daan here. The pind daan of five Russian women at Devghat was seen showing the religious identity of Gaya, where the boundaries of country and language are also seen falling short in front of faith.
