Outdoor Mahashivaratri ritual at a stepped stone ghat beside water. Many devotees in white clothes sit in rows on the red-brick steps, each in front of a black Shiva linga with a brass or copper vessel, while flower petals and yellow marigold garlands lie on the linga. A few older men wear orange or saffron shawls and sit with folded hands. A large tree and a colourful banner or backdrop stand behind the tiers under a dusk sky. The scene matches a pada puja with linga abhishekam.