VARANASI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have performed Ganga aarti twice in Varanasi's iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat, but Brahmin priests here, citing ancient texts, are claiming that the spot where the evening ritual takes place is, in fact, Ghoda Ghat -officially known as Dr Rajendra Prasad Ghat.Rajendra Prasad Ghat is spacious and spread out, and is cheek-by-jowl with a narrower but older and, in terms of religious belief, more significant, Dashashwamedh Ghat.Along its side is Shitala Ghat which has a temple to Goddess Durga, and which, priests here claim, is the Pracheen (ancient) Dashashwamedh Ghat. The entire stretch is colloquially called Dashashwamedh area, but priests are going strictly by the book.The controversy erupted when, a few weeks ago, Varanasi Municipal Corporation officials landed at the trust office of Gangotri Sewa Samti, on Shitala or Pracheen (ancient) Dashashwamedh Ghat, and began painting its name as Shitala Ghat. The trust's priests, who have traditionally performed the Ganga aarti, said theirs wasn't Shitala but the Pracheen Dashashwamedh Ghat. They suggested that the existence of Shitala Mata temple on the Ghat has led to the misnomer. For proof, they showed texts from Skanda Purana, according to which the ghat where the PM had performed aarti was not Dashashwamedh but Ghoda Ghat, or Rajendra Prasad Ghat.They showed Skanda Purana that read: "This part of the text reveals the significance of Ganga bathing in Shukla Paksh. Lord Brahma had installed Dashashwameshwar Shivling here. This Shivling is situated next to the west side of the Ganga, near Shitala Devi temple."Kishori Ram Dubey , alias Babu Mahraaj, who began the Ganga aarti in 1991, said, "The mention of Shitala Devi temple in the Purana validates our point. It is the presence of the temple on this ghat that proves that this is the original Dashashwamedh Ghat." Skanda is one of the 18 pu ranas, composed primar ily in Sanskrit, and is an influential part of the Hindu ritualism."We will move court if the authorities change the name of our ghat. This is the Pracheen Dashashwamedh Ghat.The puranas won't lie. Authorities here unnecessarily created trouble to impress VIPs that our ghat is Shitala and the one where the PM performed aarti is Dashashwamedh," said Dubey . According to Puranas, it was at this ghat where Lord Brahma had first completed the Dashashwamedh yagya -a ritual to prove imperial sovereignty .Lord Rama's father Dashrath had repeated the act. PM Modi had performed Ganga aarti twice in Varanasi -after his Lok Sabha win in 2014, and again in 2015 along with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe.

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