Diamond City residents offer prayers to appease rain gods

SURAT: From offering prayers to appeasing the gods through traditional rituals, residents of the Diamond City are doing everything for rainfall.
There is a traditional belief that when a girl carries the branches of neem tree on her head and water is poured on her head on reaching home, the rain gods are pleased and it rains. The villagers in Althan area have been performing this ritual at every home for the last few days.
"We consider neem as a holy tree that is revered as per the Hindu tradition," Atmaram Patel of Althan, who performed neem tree pooja to appease the rain god, said.
A few days ago, the devotees in Adajan area had organized a ?garbha-gruha' ritual at Gangeshwar Mahadev temple to appease the rain god. The holy vessel in the temple is filled with water and the devotees pray to Lord Mahadev to bring rains.
Even the students enrolled in primary schools run by the Nagar Prathamik Shikshan Samiti in the city have been offering prayers to appease the rain gods. Recently, the students of municipal school number 228 in Limbayat offered prayers.