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批次0001-005：印度恰特节游行中的持灯仪式

At dawn on the fourth day of Chhath Puja, devotees wade into the Ganges carrying bamboo baskets filled with glowing earthen lamps.
Each lamp burns steadily despite water lapping at its base, lit with cotton wicks dipped in ghee and jaggery.
Mothers walk barefoot for miles, balancing baskets on heads while chanting hymns older than written records.
No electric lights are permitted—even flashlights break the vow of elemental purity observed for 36 hours.
Sons and daughters follow behind, holding small oil lamps shaped like lotus flowers, their faces lit from below.
Fishermen pause rowing; shopkeepers close shutters—everyone yields space to this slow, luminous pilgrimage.
The ritual honors Surya, the sun god, but also Arka, his fierce, healing aspect visible only at twilight.
Foreign volunteers help build bamboo rafts but never lift the baskets—this labor belongs to those who fasted and bathed.
After sunset, lamps float downstream, each flame a silent promise carried by current and faith alike.
Light here does not illuminate—it consecrates; it does not guide—it remembers.