Devotees throng Srikalahasti temple on Maha Shivaratri

Srikalahasti : The famous Shivaite temple Srikalahasti reverberated with ‘Om Namah Shivaya' chantings as thousands of devotees throng the temple from Friday early hours on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri. Devasthanam management has allowed devotees for darshan of the presiding deities Srikalahastheeswara Swamy and goddess Gnana Prasunamba from 2 am itself. It is expected that more than one lakh devotees have worshipped the Lord during the day.

Anticipating huge rush, the authorities have decided to provide only Maha laghu darshan for all devotees and took special steps in queue line management to allow various categories of devotees. Common devotees and special ticket holders were allowed inside the temple from second and third gates while fourth gate was exclusively earmarked for VVIPs. Inside the temple, they were allowed to move in three queue lines with one meant for common devotees and the other for special darshan ticket holders. Third line was meant for VVIPs.

On this occasion, the authorities have cancelled all arjitha sevas including Rahu Kethu pujas. Elaborate arrangements were also made to provide drinking water, butter milk and food packets to the devotees and milk to children. Special decorations with beautiful flowers and fruits imported from Bengaluru were made.

Steps were taken to ferry devotees through free buses from bus stand and railway station and back as the vehicles were not allowed into the town. Meanwhile, temple authorities have decided to provide ‘Lingodbhava darshan’ after midnight on Friday during which special abhishekams will be performed to the presiding deity.

MLA Biyyapu Madhusudan Reddy, EO SV Nageswara Rao and other temple officials have constantly monitored the arrangements throughout the day. Rathotsavam will be held on Saturday followed by Kalynaotsavam on Sunday.