Anla Navami: 3 lakh devotees throng Gopinath temple

PURI: Over three lakh devotees, mostly those observing ‘Kartik Brata’, thronged Gopinath temple in Puri’s Satyabadi on the auspicious occasion of ‘Anla Navami’ on Wednesday. 

The rituals of Anla Navami were performed by priests early in the morning following which the deities were offered ‘chhatua bhog’. Devotees were then allowed for darshan. The shrine is located at Sakhigopal, around 20 km from Puri town. 

The temple administration banned touching of the feet of Sri Radha and arranged darshan from a distance. Devotees are allowed darshan of Sri Radha’s feet once in a year on the occasion of Anla Navami.

The administration put in place elaborate arrangements to facilitate smooth darshan for devotees. Barricades were raised for devotees to enter the temple in queues. At least 10 platoons of police force, fire service units and ambulance with medicos were deployed at the shrine. A dozen of CCTV cameras were installed at strategic points to monitor movement of devotees and servitors. 

Anticipating heavy rush of devotees to Sakhigopal, traffic police personnel were deployed along NH-316 to prevent road mishaps. On the day, district magistrate Samarth Verma, SP K Vishal Singh and sub-collector Bhabataran Sahu reviewed the arrangements. 

Heavy Rush at Sabar Srikhetra
Jeypore: Devotees in large numbers thronged the Jagannanth temple here on the occasion of Anla Navami. The shrine, also known as Sabar Srikhetra, was packed with devotees waiting to have darshan of the Trinity since early morning. The servitors performed special rituals following which darshan was allowed. The temple administration made elaborate arrangements for smooth conduct of the rituals.