Shiva temples across Mumbai saw a heavy rush of devotees since the midnight of Thursday, which marked the auspicious festival of Mahashivratri. People from across Mumbai travelled to different parts of the city to get darshan at the well-known Shiva temples.
Mahashivratri
Signifying the marriage of deities Shiva and Parvati, Mahashivratri is celebrated with great spirit and devotion across the country. Since the night of 'phalgun amavasya', devotees visit Shiva temples to offer prayers, while carrying out 'abhishek' of 'shivalingas' with water, milk and 'dhatura'.
Devotees offer prayers to the Shiva linga at Babulnath Temple |
As the clock struck 12 on Thursday night, scores of devotees swarmed the famous Shiva temples in the city to complete the 'chaar-pahar darshan' cycle. The Babulnath temple at Girgaon Chowpatty, Walkeshwar temple at Malabar Hills and other revered shrines in Mumbai saw long queues throughout the day. Babulnath opened at 12.01am on Friday with heavy police security to manage the crowd. Temple manager Mukesh Kanojia said, “More than two lakh devotees have visited the temple today (Friday) since midnight. There were separate queues for senior citizens and specially abled people. Around 300 police personnel and 200 private security staff managed the crowd.”
Devotees offer prayers to the Shiva linga at Babulnath Temple |
One of the most famous Shiva temples in the eastern suburbs, the Balrajeshwar temple in Mulund constructed an ice 'shivalinga', especially for Mahashivratri. As the temple allows women to enter 'garbhagriha' and perform 'abhishek' only on this day, a large number of women devotees flocked during the morning. Vishal Khatri, a member of the temple committee said, “The temple has been open since 2am, but people had queued up since 12am after carrying out a small procession around the temple.”
The Mandapeshwar cave temple in Borivali, which celebrated a three-day festival, teemed with followers and the footfall swelled on Mahashivratri. After performing 'laghu rudra' in the morning, around 200 women from the north Indian communities walked 4km barefoot to the temple with 'kalash' on their heads, said Madhurkar Bhandarkar, Mandapeshwar Gufa Samiti president.
