Hindus across India offered prayers and took holy dip in river Ganges and other sacred water bodies on Tuesday (September 19) for the well-being of their departed ancestors&#39; souls on the final day of &#39;Pitru Paksh&#39; or fortnight of ancestors.

According to the Hindu tradition, &#39;Pitru Paksha&#39; is a 15-lunar day period. It falls in the Hindu lunar month of Bhadrapada (September-October), beginning with the full moon day (Purnima) that occurs immediately after the 10-day festival of &#39;Ganesh Chaturthi&#39; and ends with the new moon day.

On this day, men and women stand in waist-deep waters in rivers and seas at the break of dawn and offer food items and flowers, among other things, to their ancestors.

A local resident of northern Allahabad city, Yogendra Tiwari, said that it is believed that the offerings made during the rituals reach the ancestors in Heaven.

People offer special food items to their ancestors as part of the age-old rituals. These food items are cooked in silver or copper vessels and served on a banana leaf or utensils made of dried leaves.

The menu normally includes, &#39;kheer&#39; (a traditional sweet pudding made from milk and rice), &#39;lapsi&#39; (a sweet porridge made of wheat grains), rice, lentils, vegetables of spring beans and pumpkin.

The rituals are also a way of expressing gratitude to the previous generations and seeking their blessings.

In Hinduism, &#39;Pitru Paksha&#39; is considered an inauspicious time to start new ventures or buy anything new, given the death rites performed during the ceremony known as &#39;Sharad&#39;.

&#39;Pitra Paksha&#39; is followed by the start of &#39;Navratri&#39; or nine nights - a nine-day-long festival dedicated to the as many incarnations of Hindu goddess Durga.

According to the Hindu tradition, 'Pitru Paksha' is a 15-lunar day period. It falls in the Hindu lunar month of Bhadrapada (September-October), beginning with the full moon day (Purnima) that occurs immediately after the 10-day festival of 'Ganesh Chaturthi' and ends with the new moon day.

Hindus across India offered prayers and took holy dip in river Ganges and other sacred water bodies on Tuesday (September 19) for the well-being of their departed ancestors' souls on the final day of 'Pitru Paksh' or fortnight of ancestors. According to the Hindu tradition, 'Pitru Paksha' is a 15-lunar day period. It falls in the Hindu lunar month of Bhadrapada (September-October), beginning with the full moon day (Purnima) that occurs immediately after the 10-day festival of 'Ganesh Chaturthi' and ends with the new moon day. On this day, men and women stand in waist-deep waters in rivers and seas at the break of dawn and offer food items and flowers, among other things, to their ancestors. A local resident of northern Allahabad city, Yogendra Tiwari, said that it is believed that the offerings made during the rituals reach the ancestors in Heaven. People offer special food items to their ancestors as part of the age-old rituals. These food items are cooked in silver or copper vessels and served on a banana leaf or utensils made of dried leaves. The menu normally includes, 'kheer' (a traditional sweet pudding made from milk and rice), 'lapsi' (a sweet porridge made of wheat grains), rice, lentils, vegetables of spring beans and pumpkin. The rituals are also a way of expressing gratitude to the previous generations and seeking their blessings. In Hinduism, 'Pitru Paksha' is considered an inauspicious time to start new ventures or buy anything new, given the death rites performed during the ceremony known as 'Sharad'. 'Pitra Paksha' is followed by the start of 'Navratri' or nine nights - a nine-day-long festival dedicated to the as many incarnations of Hindu goddess Durga.

Hindus across India pay homage to departed as 'fortnight of ancestors' ends

The Louvre and Orsay&nbsp;museums&nbsp;in&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;moved&nbsp;art&nbsp;works&nbsp;stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city&#39;s deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people.

Floodwaters&nbsp;have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of&nbsp;Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway.

&quot;For the&nbsp;museums, even if fortunately there isn&#39;t any&nbsp;flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to&nbsp;move&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the deepest storerooms higher,&quot; Bruno Julliard,&nbsp;Paris&#39; deputy mayor, told France Inter radio.

The Louvre and the Musee d&#39;Orsay are both home to world-renowned&nbsp;art&nbsp;collections.

Julliard said the&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the&nbsp;museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed.

Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses.

The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of&nbsp;Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city.

Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the&nbsp;floods may take several weeks to subside.

&quot;What&#39;s going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow,&quot; Royal&nbsp;said.

The retreating&nbsp;waters&nbsp;could reveal further victims, she&nbsp;added.

In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of&nbsp;Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le&nbsp;Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

The Louvre and Orsay?museums?in?Paris moved?art?works to safety on Friday as the river Seine kept rising. Thousands of people have evacuated their homes and dozens of schools closed down.

The Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris moved art works stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city's deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people. Floodwaters have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway. "For the museums, even if fortunately there isn't any flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to move works in the deepest storerooms higher," Bruno Julliard, Paris' deputy mayor, told France Inter radio. The Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay are both home to world-renowned art collections. Julliard said the works in the museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed. Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central Paris on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses. The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city. Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the floods may take several weeks to subside. "What's going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow," Royal said. The retreating waters could reveal further victims, she added. In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

Paris museums move art works as flood waters rise

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