PATNA: Temples of the city wore a colourful look with decorations on the eve of Mahashivaratri on Saturday. People of all ages celebrate the festival and many observe fast as a ritual of self purification and visit temples to offer prayers to Lord Shiva.
The festival is celebrated as the day of wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. However, others describe it as the day of the convergence of Shiv and Shakti. Roadside stalls of flowers, fruits, belpatra and other puja materials had brisk business as many devotees purchased puja materials and fruits on Friday.
The Khajpura Shiv temple has been decked up with a new stage for bhajan-kirtan. The entrance gate has been barricaded for regulating the devotees who throng the temple in large numbers on this occasion.
Convenor of the festival celebration committee and Digha MLA Sanjeev Chourasia said, "Besides tableaux, kalash yatra is to be taken barefoot by 1100 women holding pitchers of Ganga water on their heads in the afternoon." The entire stretch from Raja Bazar to Jagdeo Path has been tastefully illuminated for the occasion.
The Mahaveer Mandir near Patna Junction also attracts hundreds of devotees on Mahashivaratri. Secretary of the temple trust, Acharya Kishore Kunal said the three Shiv temples on different floors of the temple were given pushp-shringar (floral decoration) for organising 48 special prayers and rudrabhishek.
Recitation of the Shiv Puran would be another attraction. He said the festival marked the emergence of dazzling 'Shaktipunj' of infinite height which later assumed the form of Shivling as the symbol of God.
Hundreds of devotees witnessed the traditional haldi-kalash of Shiv-Parvati as per the Hindu wedding rituals at the Harihar Nath temple on the bank of Ganga in Sonepur. The temple head priest, Bum Bum Baba, said a kalash yatra passed through the Sonpur town and concluded with distribution of prasad through bhandara.
On Saturday, the Shiv-Parvati wedding would be solemnised in traditional way and devotees would be provided specially cooked kheer-halwa as prasad. A large number of people visit the ancient temple of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva after whose name is the famous cattle fair Hariharkshetra.
The priest of Priyadarshi Nagar temple on Bailey Road, Aacharya Bhoop Narayan Pathak, said the Shiv-Parvati marriage would be solemnised amidst singing of folk songs by women in the evening.
Pundit Shankar of Mahamrityunjay Patneshwar Mahadev Mandir at Patliputra industrial area said the temple is tastefully decorated for the occasion. However, in view of the expected rush of devotees, special prayers like Mahamrityunjay puja would be postponed.
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