Lakhs of Hindu devotees join Ashtami Snan in N'ganj

Ashtami Snan, a two-day religious bath festival of the Hindus, is being held in the river Brahmaputra at Langolbandh in Bandar upazila of the Narayanganj district.

Hundreds of thousands people from different parts of the country thronged at Langolbandh, a traditional venue, to have the holy bath at 18 different Snan ghats (bathing points).

Langolbandh, a pilgrimage of the Hindu communities, is on the bank of Brahmaputra which sees hundreds of thousands of devotees throng the river bank every year with a belief that the dip would purify their sins.

This year's bath started at 9:18 pm yesterday and will end at 10:47 pm today.

A folk fair is being held over an area of about two kilometers on the banks of the Brahmaputra river and vendors from different parts of the country are sitting with a wide variety of products ranging from beds, palangs, hand fans, drums, rangata, children's toys, sandesh, sweets and etc.

The devotees expressed their satisfaction regarding the overall management and security measures.

Saroj Kumar Saha, the president of the Snan (bathing) celebration committee, said this year a number of devotees came from India, Nepal and other countries to perform the yearly bathing ritual.

Superintendent of Police Golam Mostafa Russell said that 1,200 law enforcement officers were deployed to ensure security of the festival.