BHUBANESWAR: A Sea of devotees was witnessed at the 11th century Lingaraj temple on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri on Tuesday. However, the Covid-19 norms of wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing went for a toss with the shrine chock-a-block with people and servitors.
When doors of the beautifully decorated temple opened at 3.30 am for ‘aalati’ ritual, the serpentine queue of devotees outside it extended for at least 1 km. Priests allowed the ‘Sahan Mela’ (public darshan) of the deity from 4 am to 11 am. Over one lakh devotees took turns to enter the shrine till Aada Katha for ‘darshan’ of Lord Shiva. Devotees were not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum or offer puja at Aada Katha. The temple was re-opened in the evening for public darshan.
Though the raising of the ‘Mahadeepa’ was set for 10 pm, it was delayed by 20 minutes. Kamalakanta Badu, a senior servitor said as some rituals were delayed by 10 to 15 minutes in the evening, it resulted in the delay in the raising of the ceremonial lamp.
Heads of three Sevayat Nijogs were present inside the temple to monitor the timely conduct of all the rituals. Thousands of devotees, who were on a day-long fast, waited patiently inside the temple complex for the final ritual to be over after which they broke their fast. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation deployed its personnel to provide drinking water to devotees besides undertaking sanitation work around the temple. However, considering the massive crowd, little could be done by the civic body to ensure adherence to Covid-19 protocols by devotees and servitors.
A tight security blanket was thrown around the temple premises. The Commissionerate Police imposed traffic restrictions in the Old Town area in view of the rush of devotees. About 35 platoons of police force and over 100 officers were deployed to ensure the smooth passage of the mega religious festival, said Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash.
Devotees also stood in queues since the wee hours of the day to offer prayers at temples of Lord Shiva across the city including Brahmeswar, Megheswar, Jaleswar and Kapileswar. All the temples were beautifully illuminated for the occasion.