Bhubaneswar: A sea of devotees flocked to Sri Lingaraj Temple here in the evening on Saturday on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri to witness the grand spectacle of the raising of the ‘Mahadeepa’ (grand wicker oil lamp) atop the shrine. The Mahadeepa was hoisted atop the shrine at 1.08 AM on Sunday, delayed by 3.08 hours. The earlier announced schedule was 10.00 PM on Saturday.
Unprecedented vigour and enthusiasm was seen among the devotees when the servitors started climbing the 11th century shrine with the Mahadeepa at 1.03 AM on Sunday. Chanting of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, Har Har Mahadev’, and ‘Hari Bol’ and the sound of ‘Hula Huli’ (ululation) filled the air.
Thousands of devotees, who were on a day-long fast, waited patiently inside the temple complex for the final ritual–the raising of the Mahadeepa atop the temple to be over after which they broke their fast.
Serpentine queue of devotees outside the temple extending for at least 1 km or more was seen after priests allowed the ‘Sahan Mela’ (public darshan) of the deity from 3.30 AM today on completion of ‘alati’ ritual.
First sevayats (temple servitors) and their family members were allowed into the shrine through the Uttara Dwar to have darshan of Lord Lingaraj and later the public was allowed through the Singha Dwar to have darshan of the deity.
The Commissionerate Police had made elaborate arrangements to ensure the smooth passage of the mega religious festival.
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. Special barricades were put up for smooth ‘darshan’ by devotees.
The Commissionerate Police had established a control room for monitoring the total arrangement and coordination between its men deployed at different posts, monitoring of parking arrangements.
All important places were put under CCTV surveillance to keep a watch on the movement of people, snatchers, thieves and anti-social elements. Parking arrangements for vehicles were made at as many as 13 places.
These apart, arrangements were made for provision of drinking water, keeping of shoes, mobile phones, etc.
As many as 32 platoons of police force 5 Addl SPs, 11 ACPs, 19 IICs, 80 SI & ASIs and 110 home guards were deployed in the city for Maha Shivaratri.
