Lakhs of devotees performed ‘jalabhishek’ at the ancient Kashi Vishwanath and other Shiv temples throughout the city on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Sunday. Massive crowds were also witnessed at other prominent temples of Lord Shiva.
A large number of people from Varanasi and its adjoining districts started thronging the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple since Saturday night and formed a long queue to worship Lord Shiva.
The door of the temple was opened for the devotees at 4 am on Sunday after the ‘Mangla Aarti’.The crowds kept pouring into the Kashi Vishwanath temple throughout the day on Sunday, till late night. The district administration had ensured barricading for the smooth passage of the devotees to perform jalabhishek in and around the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Anant Narain Singh, son of erstwhile King of Benaras State late Vibhuti Narain Singh, performed jalabhishek at Gomteshwar Mahadev temple in Godaulia on Sunday morning.Besides, other prominent temples including Tilbhandeshwar temple, the BHU-based Vishwanath temple, Kedareshwar Mahadev temple, Markandeya temple, Mrityunjay Mahadev temple and Shool Tankeshwar Mahadev were also overcrowded with devotees. Almost all the big and small temples of Lord Shiva saw long queues of devotees.
Various ghats of the Ganga, including Dashashwamedh ghat, Rajendra Prasad ghat, Panchganga ghat, Kedar ghat, Tulsi ghat and Assi ghat were also overcrowded with devotees taking a holy dip in the Ganga and heading towards temples to perform jalabhishek.An ambience of religious fervour was evident in the holy city of Kashi, with the entire city, specially the areas close to the Ganga, echoing with the chanting of Vedic mantras and religious slogans like “Har Har Mahadev” “Jai Shiv Shanker” etc.Apart from this, several religious and cultural functions were organised at several temples to mark the occasion, including Parikrama Darshan of 10 crore mantras of Lord Shiva at Gandhi Bhavan in Town hall Ground on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}Various ghats of the Ganga, including Dashashwamedh ghat, Rajendra Prasad ghat, Panchganga ghat, Kedar ghat, Tulsi ghat and Assi ghat were also overcrowded with devotees taking a holy dip in the Ganga and heading towards temples to perform jalabhishek.An ambience of religious fervour was evident in the holy city of Kashi, with the entire city, specially the areas close to the Ganga, echoing with the chanting of Vedic mantras and religious slogans like “Har Har Mahadev” “Jai Shiv Shanker” etc.Apart from this, several religious and cultural functions were organised at several temples to mark the occasion, including Parikrama Darshan of 10 crore mantras of Lord Shiva at Gandhi Bhavan in Town hall Ground on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}The district administration had made elaborate security arrangements in and around the Kashi Vishwanath and other temples in view of the festival.
The entire city had been divided into 28 sectors with one magistrate each heading a team of policemen.
About 15 companies of the PAC and Rapid Action Force and a large number of policemen had been deployed to maintain order.There were traffic restrictions on all the roads leading to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Bomb disposal squads, fire brigades and local intelligence sleuths had also been posted to avoid any untoward incident.