Kanpur: The city temples remained crowded throughout the day as devotees in a large number thronged to offer prayers to Lord Shiva on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Sunday. Devotees started gathering at the temples from Saturday midnight for offering prayers and perform jalabhishek of Shiva. The city echoed with the chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Bam Bam Bhole’ as special religious rituals were performed at the temples and homes on the day.The district administration made special arrangements including traffic diversions around major temples, which were effective from Saturday midnight, to manage the rush of devotees. Long queues of devotees were witnessed at entry points of the temple from early morning after Mangala Aarti.At Anandeshwar Temple, the Shivling was decorated with mehndi. After the aarti at 1.30am, the temple doors were opened for devotees. According to the temple mahant, more than 2 lakh devotees performed jalabhishek till evening at the temple. Devotees offered milk, curd, wood apple (bel), belpatra, flowers, dhatura and sweets to Lord Shiva. District magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh also offered prayers at Anandeshwar Temple. Over 300 police personnel were deployed at the temple to manage the crowd and traffic. Similar crowd was seen at Siddheshwar, Jageshwar and Khereshwar temples, while the Kherapati Temple on Mall Road also witnessed a heavy influx of devotees. Shiv Barat processions were taken out in several localities, including Jajmau and Bilhour. Bands played wedding tunes, tableaux were displayed, and artists dressed as Shiv Ganas participated in the processions. The baraats were welcomed at many places with the distribution of sweets and snacks. Devotees showered flowers on the processions and sought blessings of the artists portraying the divine couple by touching their feet.Community feasts were also organised at various places where devotees were served meals as prasad while at some places thandai was distributed among devotees.In Bilhour, artists dressed as Shiv Ganas and other gods performed dances. Local MLA Rahul Bachcha Sonkar, SP leader Rachna Singh and MP representative Ravi Bajpai were present on the occasion. At Jajmau, the attraction of the Shiv Barat was Tandav dance performed by an artist portraying Lord Shiva. Tableaux depicting other gods and goddesses were also part of the procession. The baraat was warmly welcomed by devotees at several points.
