Crowd swells on Maha Ashtami amid festive fervour

Bhubaneswar: The entire state was in the grip of festive fervour on the occasion of Maha Ashtami on Friday.
Amid Durga Puja celebrations, many devotees kept fast on the day and took part in the special puja held on Ashtami. Pandal-hopping started right from morning. And the crowd swelled as evening fell. Themed pandals, colourful lights, decorations and food stalls attracting a huge crowd.
“Our puja started from Sasthi.We welcomed the goddess to the earth. But Ashtami puja is auspicious. We offered dahi pakhala and saga bhaja as offerings to the goddess on Maha Ashtami,” said Damana Durga Puja Committee president Nishakar Sahu.
Jameswar Patna Sahi Durga Puja Committee, which is celebrating its 75th year, offered fish to goddess Durga on Maha Ashtami. Later, the committee members distributed fish prasad to around 5,000 people from the locality.
The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, which are conducting more than 340 Durga pujas, organised musical and dance programmes near their mandaps. They also served prasad to devotees and pandal-hoppers. All pandals have been decked up with lights to attract devotees and revellers.
“Due to holidays and the weekend, people are expected to throng the pds. Due to heavy vehicular traffic and crowd, we are planning to visit the puja pandals in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar at night. We do not want to miss the major pujas,” said Chitra Gochhayat from Nayapalli.
The commissionerate police have made security arrangements for hassle-free darshan at the puja pandals.
Apart from the twin cities, Durga Puja is being celebrated with much fanfare in Berhampur, Balasore, Rourkela, Sambalpur and other places in the state. Special rituals are followed at Shakti shrines of goddesses Tara Tarini, Bimala, Biraja, Maa Manikeswari and others.
Chhatar Jatra of Maa Manikeswari, the presiding deity of Kalahandi district, was organised at Bhawanipatna on Friday. This Jatra is organised every year on Maha Ashtami. Thousands of people attended the event.