Allahabad: Packed temples, humidity no bar for Shiv devotees

ALLAHABAD: Temples across the city bustled with rush of devotees as they dashed to offer prayers to Lord Shiva on the first Monday of Shrawan.
The humid weather did little to deter the faithful queueing up outside temples with offerings of milk, water, honey and bel (wood apple) leaves.
“The month of Shrawan is one when devotees can do something for Lord Shiva, who is a perennial source of energy and inspiration for them,” said Radhika Verma, a devotee in Jhunsi
“After the Samudramanthan (a fight between gods and demons for amrit or salvation), a number of things came out from the ocean. One of them was ‘halahal’ poison. Lord Shiva consumed the poison to save the Earth from untimely destruction,” said chief priest of Takshak Temple Ravi Shankar
He said the poison left the deity restless and thirsty. “Only milk and Gangajal could relieve him from the pain and thirst. So his devotees fetched water from the Ganga in kanwars (pitchers). In due course of time, kanwar yatras, jalabhishek and dughdhabhishek became a customary rituals during Shrawan,” he added.
Devotees were spotted queuing up outside fampus temples like Mankameshwar, Bholegiri, Shiv Kachehri and Pandeshwarnath since early morning “We perform the morning aarti every day at 5.30am, but on the first Monday of Shrawan we performed it around 3.30am so as to accommodate more devotees for Shiv puja,” said Pandeshwarnath Temple’s Sachidanand Giri.
Many people also performed ‘rudrabhishek’ at temples. At Shiva Kutchehri, over 250 idols of Lord Shiva were worshipped together.
In the evening, ‘gehrebazi’ enthralled locals at KP College Road .
The scurrying devotees along with the rush of Varanasi-bound kanwariyas kept administrative and police officials busy on Monday.