REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, VARANASI -- India's prime minister-elect Narendra Modi offered prayers on the banks of the river Ganges on Saturday, after making a visit to the sacred city of Varanasi, where he was greeted by thousands of well-wishers.

Modi, flanked by other senior figures from his victorious Bharatiya Janata Party, performed a series of Hindu rituals to seek blessings ahead of his swearing-in, which is expected next week.

As priests and onlookers chanted devotional songs, Modi lit a traditional oil lamp and sat atop a flower-decked dais on the bank of the river, which is worshipped by Hindus as a cleanser of sins.

The ceremony was rich in political symbolism, underlining Modi's roots as a Hindu nationalist even as he promises to govern for all of India, including its religious minorities.