Devotees thronged the temples in their hordes to offer prayers to lord Krishna on the occasion of Janmashtami on Thursday. Many of the devotees fasted as part of the observance of the day. The temples were illuminated. Kirtan, bhajan and aarti were held throughout the day at the temples. Tableaus depicting the myriad aspects of the leela of lord Krishna were displayed too.
The temples located at Raipur, Karanpur, Darshan lal Chowk, Dl Road and other places in the city were decorated. Thousands of devotees thronged the famed Tapkeshwartemple to pay obeisance to the lord.
Some of them had fasted for the whole day on Wednesday. At midnight that marked the time of the advent of the lord, they broke fast, said Vinod Kumar Jha, a priest of Sai Temple, Rajpur.
Nitu Singh, Abhishek, Nidhi and Manisha Bharti were among the devotees who were found at the temple at Raipur. “We are overwhelmed as we paid our obeisance to the lord on this special day,” said one of them.
The temples were full of activities since the morning. The devotees were heard chanting mantras, singing devotional songs and reading scriptures, particularly,Bhagavad Gita.
A priest from Raipur Temple said that Krishna is regarded as the incarnation of lord Vishnu. “The lord was born to king Vasudeva and Devaki of Mathura at midnight on the eighth day of the Shravan month in the Hindu calendar,” he added.
Devotees also observed Dahi Handi at some places in the city. Dahi Handi is based on the legend that lord Krishna would steal butter from gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavan. To celebrate Dahi Handi, an earthen pot filled with buttermilk was placed at a particular height. A human pyramid was formed to break the earthen pot.
Premnagar police station in-charge SS Bisht said that a programme on breaking Dahi Handi (breaking an earthen pot filled with curd tied up to a height of 12 feet) was held at Ponda in Premnagar.
A religious procession and tableau were taken out from Shivaji Dharamshala to Tapkeshwar Temple. A large numbers of devotees participated in the procession. Police have made elaborate traffic plan apart from deploying of forces to complete the procession peacefully.
Moreover, marking the occasion of Janmashtmi, a large number of people gathered for an evening of music, meditation and knowledge at Tussat Function Center, Convent Road.
Mass meditation was also held on this occasion in which people from all walks of life, including youngsters, elderly, professionals and homemakers participated.