Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 3: Thousands of devotees thronged the Shiva temples in the city on the auspicious first Monday of the holy month of Shravana.
Sawan or Shravana month is the fifth month of the Hindu calendar deriving its name from the ‘nakshatra’ (constellation) Shravan, which appears in the sky during this month.
The air was filled with Bom Bom Bhole, Har Har Mahadev chants as devotees waited in serpentine queues with water pitchers hanging from bamboo sticks on their shoulders.
With the break of dawn devotees who had trudged for hours after filling containers with water from the rivers started pouring in. Special arrangements were made by Lingaraj temple temple authorities for the peaceful conduct of the rituals. The first Somwar of Shravana was observed according to the Jagannath Panji.
Raghunath Das along with fellow kanwariyas started his journey from Cuttack and reached the city to offer water to the Lord at Lingaraj temple. “I brought water from Mahanadi river to pour on the Shiva linga. I started the journey on foot Saturday and reached here early morning. I have been doing this for the last five years.”
Thirty-nine-year-old Upendra Pramanik from Balasore came to the city with nine other kanwariyas to visit Lingaraj temple. They went to Lokanath temple in Puri. “We came from Balasore to pour water at Lokanath temple in Puri. We took water from Chandanpur and walked to Puri. Early in the morning we poured water and came to Bhubaneswar to visit Lingaraj temple.”
The temple authorities had fixed `10 for performing all the rituals but many devotees complained that they had to pay thrice the amount. “The temple authorities had fixed `10 for performing the rituals but there were priests who snatched money from the hands of devotees saying they would perform the ritual but when we reached the sanctum the main priest who was actually performing the rituals also took money. I paid `30 and moreover the behaviour of the priests was not up to the mark,” said Umakanth Rath, a devotee.
