Saumya Bhattacharya, a tourist from Bengal’s Nadia district, was excited to see the sea of devotees. “It was overwhelming to see the rituals and the magnificent temple,” Bhattacharya said.
The temple doors opened at 3.30am with the aarti, while the sahan mela or public darshan of the deity took place from 4am to 11am. The mahadipa — a gigantic lamp — was lit on the dome of the Lingaraj temple late on Wednesday evening.
Other Shiv temples in Bhubaneswar, including Jaleswar, Nilakantha and Kapileswar, also saw huge turnouts. Devotees also thronged Loknath Peeth in Puri, Dhabaleswar Peeth in Cuttack, Akhandalmani Peeth in Bhadrak, Panchalingeswar in Balasore, Chandrasekhar temple in Dhenkanal, Ladukeshwar temple in Nayagarh and Gupteshwar in Koraput.
Text by Anwesha Ambaly, picture by Badrika Nath Das
