Jharkhand: Over three lakh devotees worship at Babadham

DUMKA/BOKARO/GARHWA/GUMLA: A sea of devotees from across the state and outside offered Jalabhishek at Babadham Shiva temple in Deoghar on Mahashivaratri on Saturday with the figure expected to cross 3 lakh mark by late evening.

The district administration made elaborate arrangements to control the crowd who started queuing up since Friday night waiting for hours for their turn to pay offerings to the deity.

Deoghar deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri and superintendent of police (SP) Subhash Chandra Jaat were spotted supervising the arrangements.

The tail end of devotees' queue extended up to 3 km from the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

“We were expecting a huge turnout of devotees from across the country and therefore made all arrangements for a smooth celebrations," Deoghar SP said, adding that nearly three thousand forces, including those from the district police and paramilitary forces, were deployed in and around the temple and along the devotees' route.

Dumka DIG Sudarshan Prasad Mandal has also been camping in Deoghar for the last couple of days.

Thousands of devotees thronged Shiva temples in Garhwa. However, in view of communal violence on Wednesday at Panki in Palamu over the erection of ‘toran dwar’ near a mosque on the road for Shivratri celebration, Garhwa police administration stepped up elaborate security arrangements at Shiva temples, including Khonhar temple, Ramlala temple, Shiv Dhonra temple.

The temples, decked with flowers and lights, echoed with the sounds of ‘Har Har Mahadev’. Banshidhar Nagar SDM Alok Kumar deployed magistrates at Raja Pahari temple, Banshidhar temple, Kailan temple, Maa Chaturbhuj temple and Surya temple, among others.

In Bokaro, Mahashivratri was celebrated with religious fervour and gaiety.

Chilka Dham, an ancient temple of Lord Shiva saw massive crowds, with many having travelled across several kilometres on foot to reach there. Besides, the Luggu temple also saw a huge number of devotees. "Mahashivratri marks the night when Lord Shiva performed ‘Tandava’ while many others believe this was the day Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati," said Dashrath Pandey, a priest of Navnath Temple.

Devotees worship Lord Shiva in different ways. Many fast, perform meditation and perform various rituals. “We visited a temple and offered water, milk bael patri (wood apple leaves), curd, honey on the Lingham,” said Utta Pandey a local resident.

Elsewhere, in Gumla, people across all age groups visited temples to offer obeisance to Shiva, while thousands from Jharkhand and neighbouring states thronged the Tanginath Dham in far-flung Dumri block.