SAMBALPUR: Thousands of devotees thronged the Samaleswari temple in Sambalpur to witness the presiding deity Samaleswari in “Dhabalamukhi Besha” on the occasion of Mahalaya on Saturday. Goddess Samaleswari adorns the ‘Dhabalamukhi Besha’ only for two and half days in a year while during the rest of the year, she dons her usual red avatar.
This year, the goddess will remain in ‘Dhabalamukhi Besha’ also known as ‘Ganga Darshan’ till 3 pm on Monday. The preparation for the adornment starts the night before and takes an hour. Subsequently, after the rituals, the gates of the temple are opened for the devotees.
President of Samaleswari Temple Trust Board, Sanjaya Baboo said, “The temple gates were opened for the devotees at 6 am on Saturday morning. Prior to that, the priests performed special rituals related to the besha. Later, in the morning and the evening ‘Alati’ was streamed live on the Facebook page of the Temple Trust Board.
Elaborate arrangements have been made by the temple authority for the devotees coming from across western Odisha and the neighbouring states. Similarly, adequate police arrangements have also been made for the peaceful ‘darshan’ of the deity. After Mahalaya, Navaratra Puja begins and continues for nine days in Samaleswari temple here, Baboo added.
According to temple authorities, more than 30,000 people had visited the temple for a glimpse of the deity by 3 pm and the footfall is expected to exceed 60,000 by the end of the day. Likewise, the temple records a higher than usual footfall during the Dhabalamukhi Besha. On the other hand, the live broadcast of the morning alati on Mahalaya recorded more than 75,000 views and 1,200 shares.