Ujjain: Thousands of people from across the country thronged here on the eve of Mahashivratri festival. The entire atmosphere became Shivmaya on Sunday.
The Mahakaleshwar Temple became the center of attraction where uninterrupted series of darshan of Mahakal Jyotirlingam was to start from wee hours of Monday.
The bhasmaarti which is held every day from 4 am will be held from 2 am on Mahashivratri and it will be held on Tuesday afternoon from 12 o’clock that is on the second day of Mahashivratri. Dopahar bhasmaarti is held only once round the year. This way the temple doors will remain open for 44 hours continuously.
Meanwhile, administration gave final touches to its preparations. Senior officials including divisional commissioner Ajeet Kumar, IG Rakesh Gupta, DIG Anil Kumar Sharma, collector Shashank Mishra, SP Sachin Atulkar and municipal commissioner Pratibha Pal reviewed the darshan, parking, security, etc, arrangements. During a round of meetings, they also gave directives to streamline the arrangements. On the eighth day of Shiv Navratri festival, the presiding deity was adorned as Shiv Tandav to the delight of darshanarthis. On the second day of three-day Kala Archana Parv, Shankar Trilochan Kathak group dance and semi-classical recital programmes were presented by famous artists at Triveni Museum on Sunday night.
Mahapuja will start from 10.30 pm on Monday. It will be followed by special rudrabhishek to be performed by 11 priests. Mahashivtrati festival will over after parayana bhojan is offered to the temple priests on Tuesday afternoon.
