Thousands of devotees including hundreds of saffron-clad kanwariyas thronged one of the dwadasa Jyotirlingas Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) amidst tight security arrangements on the eve of first Monday in the auspicious month of Shrawan here on Sunday. As this year, due to ‘adimas’ (extra month), the Shrawan will be of two months long in which there will be eight Mondays and it is expected that during the Shrawan this year, the number of devotees may cross one crore mark and on every Monday, the number of devotees is expected to be between seven to 10 lakh.
In view of this, recently the temple administration has revised rates of various puja rituals and aartis. Since the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Corridor (KVC) in December in 2021 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it would be the second Shrawan and the premises are all set to see the heavy rush of devotees on the first Monday. The popularity of the KVC was even mentioned by the PM in the visit to his parliamentary constituency just a couple of days ago and Modi also expected that this time, the rush of devotees might be bigger.
Apart from elaborate security arrangements and traffic restrictions for the first Monday of this auspicious Shravan at KVT, the local administration is also expecting the rush of devotees at all other famous Shiv temples of the city and its outskirts including Markandey Mahadev (Kaithi), Mahamritunjya Mahadev (Daranagar), Kedareshwar Mahadev (Kedarghat), Teel Bandeshwar (Pandey Haveli), Jogeshwar Mahadev (Ishwarganji), Sarang Mahadev (Sarnath), Vishwanath temple (Banaras Hindu University), Karmdeshwar Mahadev (Kandhwa), Rameshwar Mahadev (Rameshwar), Shool Tankeshwar Mahadev (Madhopur in Rohania area) and many others.
At KVC, all the activities have been watched through various CCTV cameras. To avoid congregation the devotees were asked to move towards the KVC only through barricading and heavy police personnel have been deployed both inside and outside of the premises. The barricading was also made at all other famous temples to check the rush of devotees and maintain law and order situation. Rush was also seen at Ganga Dwar, the entry point to the KVC from river Ganga side.
Meanwhile, on the eve of first Monday, the activists of Namami Gange organised a programme asking the saffron-clad kanwariyas to take pledge to keep the river Ganga clean and pollution-free. They also performed aarti of Maa Ganga and prayed to Lord Vishwanath (Shiva). They also offered shramdaan to keep the ghats clean.
Carrying tricolour flags in their hands, the participants resolved to keep the river Ganga clean and pledged not to use single-use plastic. Regional convenor (Kashi) Rajesh Shukla said that this festival shows the importance of water and the Kanwar Yatra, apart from social concerns along with religious beliefs, highlights the importance of water harvesting. Abhinav Harbola, Satyendra Sharma, Sumit Dubey, Subhash Yadav and many kanwariyas were present in the event.