Thousands throng Siva temples in city

October 20, 2009 01:56 pm | Updated 01:56 pm IST - VISAKHAPATNAM

HOLY RITUAL: A priest performing ‘paalaabhishekam’ to Lord Siva on the first Monday of ‘Kaarteeka maasam’ in the city. Photo: CV Subrahmanyam

HOLY RITUAL: A priest performing ‘paalaabhishekam’ to Lord Siva on the first Monday of ‘Kaarteeka maasam’ in the city. Photo: CV Subrahmanyam

The all important month of ‘Kaarteekam’ began on an enthusiastic note here on Monday and the Siva temples in the city were teeming with thousands of devotees.

At the break of dawn, serpentine queues of devotees were seen at temples.

The holy precincts of temples reverberated with the hymns, sung by the devout and the pujaris of temples in praise of Lord Siva and his consort Parvathi. The air is thick, especially on the temple premises, with religious fervour.

25 temples

There are some 25 Siva temples in the city of which about a dozen are the most important. These include the Ramalingeswara temple in Ramakrishna Nagar, Sivaalayams at Jagadamba junction and Nakkavanipalem, Uma Neelakanteswra Swamy temple in Sitammadhara and the separate Bhavatarini temple popularly known as Kaali Temple at the RK Beach.

Special pujas

Special pujas like ‘jaalaabhishekam’, ‘paalabhishekam’, ‘rudrabhishekam’ start early in the morning.

Daily visit of temple in the early hours of day, fasting, food restrictions are some of the religious injunctions of Kaarteekam.

The month-long religious event begins when the Sun enters Tulaaraasi.

A feature of the month is the importance attached to Monday. Incidentally there will be five Mondays during this year’s Kaarteekam. According to the legend, the religious significance of Karteekam, on request, was briefed by sage Sutha to other sages in the Naimisa forest.

Similarly goddess Parvathi heard it from her consort Siva, Lakshmi from Sreemannarayana.

Every day is significant in the entire month and special pujas are prescribed on every day.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.