Gaya: In a display of faith transcending the faultlines of war, six Russian and two Ukrainian devotees joined fellow foreigners to perform “pind daan” and “tarpan” at Dev Ghat along the Falgu river in Gaya on Friday morning, the seventh day of the ongoing fortnight-long Pitripaksh Mela. The Russian and Ukrainian nationals, whose countries have been at war, came together in Gaya to perform ancestral rituals and pray for the peace and salvation of their departed ancestors.A group of 22 foreign devotees from five countries took part in the rituals. They included six from Russia, 11 from Germany, two from Ukraine and one each from Italy and Latvia. They performed the rituals alongside thousands of Indian pilgrims visiting Gaya during Pitripaksh. A total of 48 foreign devotees, divided into three groups, including Friday’s group, will perform the ancestral rituals before the Pitripaksh Mela concludes on Oct 10.Preacher Loknath Gaud said, “The nationals of Russia and Ukraine, who performed the rituals came together in same aircraft. They have nothing to do with the ongoing war between two countries or any kind of politics. These devotees are true followers of Sanatan Dharma.”Gaud, a preacher of Sanatan Dharma in European and African countries, said, “After performing the rituals on the banks of the Falgu for the peace and salvation of their departed ancestors, they also visited the Vishnupad temple and offered prayers before the footprint of Lord Vishnu in the sanctum sanctorum.”“The devotees had been following the rules and religious practices of Sanatan Dharma for the past two-and-a-half years. After formally adopting the faith and wearing traditional Indian attire, they were permitted to visit Gaya Ji and perform the ancestral rituals,” he said.“Some of the foreign devotees became inclined towards Sanatan Dharma after experiencing personal tragedies in their own lives or those of family members,” he said.The coming together of Russian and Ukrainian devotees for the rituals also echoes an earlier instance from Gaya. In 2022, a Ukrainian woman, Yulia, had performed pind daan at a temple in Gaya for the salvation of the souls of all the soldiers and civilians who died in her country and Russia in the war between the two nations that began in Feb 2022.The devotees from Russia who performed the rituals included Larisa Brineva, Olga Radi, Ekaterina Pavlova, Oksana Bureeva, Albina Gimatdinova and Nadezhda Dursunova. Those from Germany were Viktoria Thun, Lidia Schwab, Natalie Koch, Eugenia Muller, Anna Syrbu, Irina Missal Rajasnowa, Jana Kochnev Akulova, Faina Ciftci, Svetlana, Nadeschda Nebelica Omigow and Kristina Schlem. Oleksandra Khomenko and Natalia Kurilova were from Ukraine, Massimo Boracchi from Italy and Olesja Pucinska from Latvia.
