Over two lakh devotees visit historic temple for Mahashivaratri

Hanur: In a post-Shivaratri clean-up, over 130 people including volunteers removed eight truckloads of footwear and plastic waste including covers, bottles and bags at the historic Male Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday. Incidentally, the Wildlife Sanctuary will soon be declared as a Tiger Reserve. 

Lakhs of devotees thronged the Male Mahadeshwara Temple atop Male Mahadeshwara Hill for Mahashivaratri. The Sanctuary saw thousands of devotees trekking 6-7 km to reach the Shiva Temple atop MM Hills. 

Devotees from far and wide some from even the neighbouring States, came to the Hill to take part in the Jathra held from Feb. 20 to 24. Apart from volunteers who came from Bengaluru and Mysuru to prevent any forest fire, more than a hundred volunteers were deployed throughout the route from Talabetta all the way to the Temple to collect plastic waste.

Though many volunteers and the Forest Department created awareness among the devotees to shun plastic usage, many had littered plastic waste in the Sanctuary. In the plastic removal programme, the Sanctuary authorities were helped by 130 people, including 70 volunteers from Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Bengaluru. They collected the plastic waste,   covering 18 km, from Ponnachi Cross to Kowdalli.

The volunteers included 25 students of Maharaja’s College, Mysuru, about 25 wildlife volunteers from Bengaluru, and villagers from Chamarajanagar district. The front-line staffs of the Sanctuary and Forest Department and watchers were also part of the drive.

MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary Deputy Conservator of Forests V. Yedukondalu said that the collected waste will be segregated before handing them over to the Temple authorities who have their own plastic recycling unit. “We have cleaned up 99 percent of plastic and other waste disposed in the forest. The remaining will be removed by the front-line staff of the Forest Department in two days,” he said. 

This year, more than 2 lakh devotees visited the temple on Feb. 21. Devotees started arriving from Feb. 18 and stayed at the Hill till the event was completed. There are 25 villages inside the forest and 35 villages in the forest border. There are more than 1.5 lakh domestic animals in these villages.

The Wildlife Sanctuary has over 15 to 20 tigers, more than 600 elephants, thousands of deer and other wild animals. Forest personnel kept a close watch for forest fire in various zones of the Sanctuary like Hanur, Pijipalya, Hoogyam, Ramapura, Male Mahadeshwara Hills, Palar and Kollegal.

Volunteers, Department personnel and the local Police were deployed at all three entrances to the hillocks — Cauvery Wildlife Range, Tamil Nadu and Kollegal. 

Some started their journey from Mandya and Mysuru — a walk of around 70 km — and around 30 km of this journey is through the thickets.

Rs. 2.51 crore hundi collection at MM Hills Offerings include 50 grams gold,  2.4 kg silver

Hanur, Mar. 2- Male Mahadeshwara Hill Temple, in Hanur taluk, which created a record by earning a revenue of more than Rs. 3.7 crore during the six-day Shivaratri Jathra Mahotsava, has created another record by collecting Rs. 2.51 crore from the offering boxes (hundis). The last year collection during Shivaratri was Rs. 2.17 crore.

The counting of hundis was held at the commercial complex building at the bus stand on Saturday morning. The counting process that started at 6.30 am continued up to 11.30 pm. The devotees have offered Rs. 2.52 crore in the form of currency notes and coins. Besides, they have also offered 50 gm gold and 2.4 kg silver articles into the hundi.

The total value of coins collected was Rs. 15,21,344, the highest so far. MM Hills Development Authority Secretary Jayavibhavaswamy attributed the rise in collection of coins to the awareness made to the devotees not to throw coins on the golden chariot.