Covid-19: People look to deities for protection

Manali: As Coronavirus scare grips the world, many people in the hill state are praying to deities. A number of priests and Kardars of deities from upper Kullu will gather at Hidimba Devi temple in Manali on Wednesday. A secret and rare ceremony will be organised to pray to the goddess for relief from the outbreak. The ceremony is organised occasionally after a major disaster.

Kardar of Hidimba Devi temple, Raghubir Negi said Manu Rishi, Gautam Rishi, Vyas Rishi, Nag, Jamdagni, Parashar, Vashisht, Srishti Narayan, Kartik Swami, Shankh Narayan, Shandilya, Siyali Mahadev and other deities will be present on the occasion.

Nitin Sharma, priest of Devi Sandhya Gayatri, said deities had sounded a warning through their gur (shamans) that the world would suffer from a new epidemic this year.

“People were already apprehensive about what was to come and suddenly Coronavirus made an appearance. We think this is the disease that our deities were referring to. We hope Devi Hidimba will show us a way out of this trouble as she has done in the past,” he said.

Residents of Seraj area also planned to take refuge of the deities. Coronavirus is an important topic in all religious ceremonies these days. People of Himachal, popularly known as Devbhoomi, have deep faith in deities, who, they believe, will protect them from all kinds of trouble.

While the state government has advised cancellation or postponement of fairs and religious ceremonies involving large public gathering to prevent spread of the virus, a few local fairs associated with religious beliefs are still being held. These days people of Archhandi area of Kullu are celebrating a fair in honour of the Goddess Kali.

The season of fairs has started in Himachal, especially in Kullu and Mandi district. While many fairs in Mandi district have been cancelled, there is no such notification in Kullu district.

After cancelling the district-level Bhangrotu fair of Mandi district, which was to be celebrated between March 14 and March 17, the administration has deferred the state-level Nalwar Mela of Sundernagar, which starts on March 22. Bilaspur administration has also deferred the Bilaspur Nalwar Mela, which was to start from Tuesday.

Mandi deputy commissioner Rugved Thakur said the decision has been taken as a precautionary measure. “New dates will be announced after the situation improves,” he said.