VIJAYAWADA: Maha Sivaratri was celebrated with fervour and gaiety in various Siva temples across Krishna district on Monday. From the early hours of the morning, long queues were seen on Canal Road near Durga Ghat, where scores of devotees took a holy dip in the Krishna.
The ancient Siva temples such as Lord Malleswara Swamy temple atop Indrakeeladri, Kasi Visweswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam at One Town and Sri Parvathi Ramalingeswara Swamy Temple at Yanamalakuduru were decorated with ‘thoranams’ and ‘mandapams’.
Chantings of ‘Om Nama sivaya’, ‘Hara Hara Mahadeva’, ‘Shambo Shiva Shankara’ by the devotees reverberated in the air on the temple premises. Long queues were seen near Old Sivalayam and temple authorities have made elaborate arrangements for devotees to have darshan of processional deities of Lord Shiva and Parvathi.
Sri Parvathi Ramalingeswara Swamy temple at Yanamalakuduru was also jam-packed with devotees from dawn. Devotees performed ‘Ksheera Abhishekam’, ‘Akhanda Deeparadhana’ and ‘Lingarchana’. In the night, the priests performed ‘Kalyanotsavam’ of Lord Malleswara and Goddess Kanaka Durga at Indrakeeladri and Sri Parvathi Ramalingeswara Swamy temple at Munigiri in Yanamalakuduru village.
The villagers of Yanamalakuduru arranged ‘prabhalu’ on the streets and performed pujas to ‘Shiva Parvathulu’ amid blowing of trumpets. ‘Kolatams’, orchestra, ‘bhakti bhajans’ and other cultural programmes enthralled the pilgrims on the streets.
Similarly, other Siva temples at Governorpet, Satyanarayanapuram, Vijayeswara Swamy Temple, Chandramouleshwara Swamy Temple at Labbipet, Parvathi Sametha Ramalingeswara Swamy at Mutyalampadu, Iluru, Kudali, Ibrahimpatnam and Vasantha Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple at One Town also witnessed heavy rush of devotees.