Trineshwaraswamy temple in Palace premises to be open on Saturday and Sunday

Mysore/Mysuru: The city is gearing up for Mahashivaratri festival tomorrow with all Shiva temples getting ready for a grand celebration.

Accordingly, preparations are in full swing at the famed Trineshwaraswamy temple in Palace premises, where the deity is specially decorated and adorned  with ‘Chinnada Kolaga’(Golden Mask) for the festival. The 11-kg Chinnada Kolaga, which was kept in the District Treasury in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, was brought under tight Police security to the Palace premises, where it was handed over to the temple authorities.

Special rituals will be performed to the Kolaga, following which the presiding  deity will be adorned. The festival rituals will start right from early morning tomorrow, following which the temple will be opened for devotees from 6 am. The temple, with the deity adorned with Chinnada Kolaga, will be open for devotees for two days (Saturday and Sunday) perhaps for the first time as Sunday happens to be a public holiday and a large number of devotees from the city and across the State is expected this time, especially after a two-year lull due to COVID pandemic.

While the temple will be open for devotees from 6 am till midnight tomorrow (Feb.18), it will be open from 6 am to 9 pm on Sunday (Feb.19). On Feb.20, the Chinnada Kolaga will be brought back to the District Treasury.

With the temple authorities expecting a huge rush of devotees on both the days, counters have been set up at different points around the temple for distribution of prasada to devotees. Other than the regular entry to the Palace,  the devotees will also be allowed from Jayamarthanda Gate on the eastern side of the Palace too as a streamlining measure and crowd control, it is learnt.

Chamundi Hill Temple Administrative Officer Govindaraju, AAO Dinesh, Muzrai Tahsildar Krishna, Staff Sheela, Palace Board Deputy Director T.S. Subramanya, Trineshwaraswamy Temple priests Santhanam and Venkatesh and others were present when the Chinnada Kolaga was brought to the temple from the District Treasury.