Devotees of Rakher Upobash

During Kartik, “the holiest month” beginning every year with the new moon in November, thousands of Hindu devotees celebrate the feast of Rakher Upobash, fasting and praying the gods sitting before the Shri Shri Lokanath Brahmachari Ashram, among the Swami Bagh Temple near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The worshippers offer candles called Prodip, meditate, give to charity, and generally perform austerity.

The ashram (sanctuary) where this gathering takes place is dedicated to Lokenath Brahmachari, also called Baba Lokenath by devotees, who was a Hindu holy man and yogi, considered almost a deity by Hindi people, born in 1730 in the then undivided Bengal (today West Bengal).