Nearly a crore take the holy dip at Gangasagar on Makar Sankranti
Approximately 1 crore (10 million) pilgrims from various parts of the country participated in the Gangasagar Mela and performed the sacred dip at the junction of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal on Sagar Island on the day of Makar Sankranti (January 15), stated a senior Bengal government official.
As a tradition, every Makar Sankranti sees hundreds of thousands of devotees journeying to Sagar Island in Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district to partake in the customary dip and participate in prayer rituals at the revered Kapil Muni Temple.
Recently, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding recognising the festival as ‘national fair’.
The propitious period for ‘punya snan’ or the sacred bath on Makar Sankranti commenced at 12.30 am on Monday and extended till 12.13 am on Tuesday. A majority of devotees are adhering to this schedule for taking the holy dip.
However, for some devotees choosing to follow the Mahabir Panjika, the auspicious timing for the holy bath commenced at 8.42 am on Sunday.
