Bhubaneswar: A stampede-like situation left 10 persons injured at the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar on the evening of Maha Shivratri on Friday.
According to sources, thousands of devotees congregated at the temple to have darshan of Lord Lingaraj and watch Mahadeepa while being raised atop the temple.
The stampede occurred when devotees waiting in the queue became intolerant and broke the barricade at Singha Dwara so that they could enter the temple without delay. It left 10 persons including a few on-duty police personnel injured.
The injured were rushed to Capital Hospital after first aid treatment.
However, the incident did not delay the ritual of raising Mahadeep atop the temple. The Mahadeepa was placed atop the shrine at 10.15 PM on Friday.
Thousands of devotees were on a day-long fast and were waiting patiently inside the temple complex for the completion of the final ritual–the raising of the Mahadeepa atop the temple. They broke their fast after the Mahadeep was lifted atop the temple.
It may be noted that a 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 on completion of ‘alati’ ritual on Friday.
