Hyderabad: Thousands of devotees thronged temples of Lord Shiva across the two Telugu States today being ‘sacred Kartika Somavaram’, which is the last one in the auspicious month and performed special rituals and participated in ‘Vanamahotsavams’ organised on the occasion. ‘Vanabhojanams’ were also organized at many places with the active involvement of the Forest and Tourism Departments.
In Telangana State, all major temples attracted thousands of devotees on the sacred day. Devotees thronged the Sri Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple in Dharmapuri in Karimnagar district. Women devotees lighted sacred lamps at the “Usirikaya” tree on the temple premises. Besides, a large number of couple performed Satyanarayana Vratham on the occasion.
In the temple of Sri Rajarajeshwara Swamy, thousands of devotees worshipped the presiding deities and performed Mahanyasapoorvaka Edadasha Rudrabhishekam. In view of the heavy rush, the temple authorities cancelled all the paid sevas in the temple. Similarly, thousands of devotees made beeline to the Thousand Pillar temple in Warangal and performed special pujas on the occasion.
In Srisailam of Kurnool district, thousands of devotees thronged the temple of Sri Mallikharjuna Swamy and worshipped the Three-eyed Lord. Taking a bath in the Pathala Ganga, the devotees lit sacred “Karteeka Deepams” in the temple. They performed Rudrabhishekam to the Lord and Kumkumarchana to the Goddess. They also performed “Uma Maheshwara” kalyanams on the occasion.
Thousands of devotees lined up for ‘darshan’ at temples of Lord Shiva all over Chittoor district on Monday, which signaled the start of Karthigai month of Tamil almanac while the occasion marked the conclusion of four Kartika Somavarams in the Telugu calendar. Chittoor district, from Kuppam to Satyavedu, holds substantial Tamil population though the Telugus too celebrate Karthigai month. The temples were open in the early hours and continued till late in the evening. At Mogili, a large number of devotees offered prayers at the temple of Lord Mogileeswara Swamy. The hill temples of Lord Shiva at Musilipedu, Pakala, Puttur and Madanapalle drew huge crowds.
A special puja was held at Sri Mulasthaneswara Swamy temple at Mulapet in Nellore district. Devotees from Nellore town and the neighboring districts took part in the festivities. Sri
Devotees thronged Tripurantakam in Prakasam district, the abode of Lord Tripurantakeswara, the eastern gateway to Srisailam, to perform special pujas in connection with Kartika Masam.
Similarly, the ancient temple of Lord Ramalingeswara Swamy at Santharavuru near Kadavakuduru on Ongole-Chirala Road witnessed a heavy rush of devotees as also the Siva temples in Chirala, Perala and Vetapalem. Padi puja was performed at Ayyappa temple near Mangamoor Donka here late on Sunday. Ayyappa devotees from far and near flocked the temple abutting the Rangarayudu Cheruvu to offer prayers to Manikanta to mark the opening of Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala for Mandala puja. (NSS)
