- Hundreds of devotees climb 1,008 steps to avoid COVID-19 regulations
- Chamundeshwari Vardhanti on July 20
Mysore/Mysuru: The third Ashada Shukravara atop Chamundi Hill offering puja to Goddess Chamundeshwari continued to get hundreds of devotees amidst drizzle and cold breeze. The devotees had started gathering in front of the Hill Temple as early as 3 this morning to have darshan of the presiding deity decorated with ‘Mahalakshmi Alankara.’
The special pujas and rituals associated with Ashada Shukravara began as early as 3.30 am. Several rituals like Mahanyasapoorvaka Rudrabhisheka, Abhisheka, various Archanas, etc, led by Sri Chamundeshwari Temple Chief Priest Dr. N. Shashishekar Dixit were performed to the deity while the Mahamangalarathi was performed between 5.10 am and 5.20 am. Once the arathi and pujas were over, devotees were allowed to have darshan at 5.30 am.
Devotees stood under the water-proof pendal in separate queues paying Rs. 300 and Rs. 30 and Dharma Darshan queue which is a free entry.
As the Police issued orders regarding the withdrawal of the passes provided by the Police for devotees to access Chamundeshwari Temple, the Hill Temple saw the least number of private vehicles.
Wordy duel ensued between Police and devotees who came from various districts including Bengaluru as they were restricted near Kurubarahalli Circle leading to Chamundi Hill Road. Police who had installed barricades near the Circle did not accept the pass brought by several devotees claiming that they had received passes from Ministers and MLAs.
The Chamundeshwari Temple saw more devotees this morning compared to the last two Ashada Fridays which were on July 1 and 8.
The Grand Chamundeshwari Vardhanti Utsava will be held on July 20.
Free bus facilities for all the devotees were arranged from Lalitha Mahal grounds to the Hill Temple. Devotees were allowed only after checking their COVID-19 vaccination certificate or RT-PCR test negative reports. However, hundreds of devotees climbed the steps to reach the Hill Temple to avoid checking.
MLAs S.A. Ramdas, L. Nagendra and H.D. Revanna were among those who had darshan.
This post was published on July 15, 2022 6:43 pm