Ujjain Kshipra Aarti Row Escalates as Priests Begin Jal Satyagraha

In the city of Ujjain in India, people perform a beautiful evening ceremony called the Kshipra Aarti next to the Kshipra river.

For the last eleven years, special priests called Tirtha Purohits have been in charge of this ceremony.

Now, a temple committee called the Mahakaleshwar Temple Management Committee wants to take over the ceremony.

The priests did not like this, and they stopped the committee from performing the ritual.

Police were called and used a little bit of force to move the priests away.

This made the priests angry, and they sat in the river as a peaceful protest called a 'Jal Satyagraha.'

The government says it only wants to make the ceremony bigger and better for visitors, even hiring a private company to help organize and promote it.

The priests say they should not be pushed out after so many years and want to keep doing the Aarti themselves.

So both sides are still talking about who will be in charge of the ceremony.