Grand Bassin is a mountain lake in the south of Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island 1,200 miles east of the east African coast.
Mauritius' Hindu community has constructed holy locations
(tirthas) in the landscape that frequently connect to or correlate to
significant landscape characteristics in India.
The Hindus in Mauritius refer to the Grand Bassin as the
Ganges River, as it is a distant and high lake.
Large groups of people go to Grand Bassin in the days
leading up to Shivaratri (February–March), when they wash (snana) in the lake,
pray at the temples around it, and then collect pots of water from the lake and
bring them back to their houses on foot.
Pilgrims schedule their travels so that they get home on
Shivaratri evening, and the water is donated to the deity Shiva in their local
temple.
This kind of ceremony may be found in numerous locations
throughout India, the most famous of which being Vaidyanath in Bihar.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
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