President Murmu performs 'Jalabhishek' at Mangalmurti Mahadev in Mauritius

Droupadi Murmu. Pic/X

President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday performed 'Jalabhishek' at the Mangalmurti Mahadev during her ongoing state visit to Mauritius while offering prayers along with Gangajal at the sacred Ganga Talao. The President's visit to the holy site came close on the heels of her announcement that India will assist the Mauritian government in the redevelopment of the Ganga Talao complex into a religious, cultural and touristic hub.

"President Murmu performed Jalabhishek at Mangalmurti Mahadev, and offered prayers along with holy Gangajal at the sacred Ganga Talao. Earlier during the State Visit, she announced that India will assist the Government of Mauritius in the redevelopment of the Ganga Talao complex into a religious, cultural and touristic hub," read a post on the official X handle of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, President of India, on Wednesday.

The President also paid tribute to the " brave Mauritian ancestors at Aapravasi Ghat" in the Mauritian capital, Port Louis, on Wednesday. The President was warmly welcomed by exponents of Bhojpuri Geet Gawai and Sega, which represent the unique musical traditions of Mauritius.

She also climbed the same 16 stone steps that the first indentured workers from India took as they settled into their new lives in Mauritius, nearly two centuries ago. "President Droupadi Murmu paid tributes to the brave Mauritian ancestors at Aapravasi Ghat and International Slavery Museum in Port Louis. President Murmu climbed the same 16 stone steps from where the first indentured workers from India began their new lives in Mauritius, nearly two centuries ago. President Murmu was warmly welcomed at both sites by performers of Bhojpuri Geet Gawai and Sega, unique musical traditions of Mauritius," the post read further.

World Heritage Aapravasi Ghat is located in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. The Aapravasi Ghat houses the remains of an immigration depot built in 1849 to receive indentured labourers from India, Madagascar, China, Eastern Africa and Southeast Asia to work on the island's sugar estates as part of the 'Great Experiment, read an official statement.

This experiment was initiated by the British government after the abolition of slavery in 1834, to demonstrate that 'free labour' was better than 'slave labour'. The success of the 'Great Experiment' in Mauritius, which received nearly half a million indentured workers, led to its adoption by other colonial powers in the 1840s, resulting in the migration of more than two million indentured labourers to Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, South Africa, Cuba, Peru, Reunion Island, etc, and the creation of multicultural societies in the Indian Ocean, Latin America and the Pacific.

The Aapravasi Ghat site is unique as the only surviving example of an immigration depot of the 19th century and a labour precursor to the modern system of global contractual and subsequently bequeathed to their millions of descendants for whom the site holds great symbolic meaning. The site was declared a National Monument in 1987 and was renamed from Immigration Depot to Aapravasi Ghat. The Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Property was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006.

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