By IANS,
Dhaka : Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi Hindus Monday took holy bath in the tributaries of the Brahmaputra river on the occasion of “astami snan”.
The two-day bathing ritual began early Sunday. Bathing is on at various river banks, including Rajgaht, Gandhighat, Premtolighat, Annapurnaghat, Makri Sadhughat, and Kalighat, among others. It will continue till midnight Monday, the New Age reported. The members of the community also took the holy bath at Langalbandh, about 25 km from Dhaka.
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 freed himself from the sin of axing his mother Renuka Debi at the order of his father Jamadagni.
Hindus are Bangladesh’s largest religious minority, about nine percent of the population.