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Business News/ Photos / In pics: Witness Masan Holi, Varanasi’s hauntingly beautiful celebration with ashes

In pics: Witness Masan Holi, Varanasi’s hauntingly beautiful celebration with ashes

7 Photos . Updated: 11 Mar 2025, 05:03 PM IST Diya Madan

Unlike traditional Holi, Varanasi’s Masan Holi is played with pyre ashes at Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghats. Devotees, saints, and Shiva followers gather to honour Lord Shiva, chanting Har Har Mahadev as they celebrate amidst the sacred cremation grounds, embracing the cycle of life and death.

In the heart of Varanasi, devotees and sadhus gather at Manikarnika Ghat to play Masan Holi, a ritual where ashes from cremation pyres replace traditional colours, symbolising the transient nature of life. (X)

1/7In the heart of Varanasi, devotees and sadhus gather at Manikarnika Ghat to play Masan Holi, a ritual where ashes from cremation pyres replace traditional colours, symbolising the transient nature of life. (X)

With bodies covered in sacred ash and voices chanting Shiva’s name, the sadhus and followers at Masan Holi embrace the essence of detachment, surrendering themselves to the divine will. (X)

2/7With bodies covered in sacred ash and voices chanting Shiva’s name, the sadhus and followers at Masan Holi embrace the essence of detachment, surrendering themselves to the divine will. (X)

Devotees revel in the mystic essence of Masan Holi, symbolising their acceptance of mortality and faith in Shiva’s eternal cycle of destruction and renewal. (X)

3/7Devotees revel in the mystic essence of Masan Holi, symbolising their acceptance of mortality and faith in Shiva’s eternal cycle of destruction and renewal. (X)

As the sacred fire consumes mortal remains, its ashes become part of a powerful ritual in which believers surrender to the truth of existence, honouring Shiva, the Lord of Destruction. (X)

4/7As the sacred fire consumes mortal remains, its ashes become part of a powerful ritual in which believers surrender to the truth of existence, honouring Shiva, the Lord of Destruction. (X)

Masan Holi is not just a festival but a test of faith—embracing death without fear, knowing that in Shiva’s world, the end is only a new beginning. (X)

5/7Masan Holi is not just a festival but a test of faith—embracing death without fear, knowing that in Shiva’s world, the end is only a new beginning. (X)

In an extraordinary display of devotion, sadhus and Shiva followers dance amidst the pyres, their bodies covered in ash, celebrating the inseparable bond between creation and destruction in Hindu philosophy. (X)

6/7In an extraordinary display of devotion, sadhus and Shiva followers dance amidst the pyres, their bodies covered in ash, celebrating the inseparable bond between creation and destruction in Hindu philosophy. (X)

Here at the banks of the sacred Ganga, where life ends and liberation begins, Masan Holi reminds us that death is not to be mourned but understood. (X)

7/7Here at the banks of the sacred Ganga, where life ends and liberation begins, Masan Holi reminds us that death is not to be mourned but understood. (X)

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