Each year 25 million babies are born in India, the world’s most populous nation, but for desperate childless couples wanting to be parents, prayers at a sacred Hindu well offer hope.
“We just hope that god blesses us,” said 30-year-old Rita Vishwakarma, on pilgrimage with her husband Deepak to the ancient Lolark Kund well, in India’s holy city of Varanasi.
Married for eight years, the couple has suffered the deep trauma of repeated stillbirths or their babies dying days after being born.
Varanasi is better known for where Hindus come to die, to have their bodies cremated on the banks of the sacred Ganges, believing that it will ensure liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
But it is also a site where people pray for new life.
Fertility rites at Lolark Kund well have taken place for centuries, and celebrations peak during this week’s festival of Lolark Shasthi.
Thousands of couples and devotees from all over the country gather at the ancient well, climbing down steep steps into the dark waters to bathe.
Vishwakarma said her sister had two daughters after praying at the well.
“If it worked for my sister, there are chances it could work for us too,” she said, having travelled 1,500 kilometres (over 900 miles) from the southern state of Goa.
‘I have faith’
Vishwakarma was among the throngs of thousands performing religious rituals — taking the holy bath and making offerings of fruits and vegetables.
“I have faith,” said Sarita Yadav, 22, married for four years and coming for the past three to bathe while hoping for a child.
“People come here in large numbers, and that does mean something,” she said. “There is belief.”
Rinky Devi and Maya Devi, cousins in their 20s, queued for two days for their turn. The women prayed for a baby with their husbands.
“We just have one hope; that god listens to us and blesses us with a child”, Rinky said.
‘Gave it our best’
As well as those praying for a birth, devotees returned to offer thanks for babies they believed were born after divine intervention on earlier trips.
“We were trying for a child for 17 years,” said Hindu devotee Yashwant Singh, who came with his wife Soni.
“We gave it our best, tried so many different ways, went to so many places.”
He believed it was their trip to the well that worked for them.
This time, they brought their two-year-old daughter for a special hair-shaving ceremony to show their gratitude.
“We were blessed with a baby girl,” Yashwant Singh said. “Our wish came true. That’s why we named our child ‘Mannat’, which means a prayer or a wish.”
Sadhna Mishra and her husband Chandraprakash also came to give thanks.
Nine months after their trip to the well, a son joined their two daughters.
“We always longed for a baby boy,” Mishra said. “Sisters are incomplete without a brother.”
India, with 1.4 billion people, makes up nearly a fifth of global births each year with some 25 million babies, according to the UN children’s fund.
That’s nearly the population of Australia just in babies, or more than 68,000 births each day.
