Several hundreds .of devotees from various parts of the State and also from the neighbouring States have arrived in large numbers at Sri Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam in Dharmapuri of Jagtial district on Tuesday to worship Lord Yama Dharmaraja (God of Death).
This is the only temple shrine in entire country where Lord Yama (God of Death) is worshipped.
The devotees who visit the Dharmapuri temple shrine first offer prayers to the Lord Yama at his temple before offering prayers to other deities. The devotees pour oil in the “Yamaganda deepam” to get rid of their sorrows and sufferings.
On “Yama Dwetheeya” which falls on the second day after the Deepavali festival, a visit to the Lord Yama temple attains lot of importance among devotees. It is believed that people who offer prayers at the Lord Yama temple on Yama Dwetheeya would not go to ‘hell’ after their death.
Temple priest Bojja Ramesh Sharma told “The Hindu” that the annual “Yama Dwitheeya” which is celebrated on second day after the Deepavali festival, marking the visit of Lord Yama to his sister Yamuna Devi’s house for lunch, attains more importance to appease the God of Death. On this occasion, the devotees perform the special pujas such as “Ayoosha Sooktham homam” for longevity and good health and special abhishekhams, he maintained.
It is also believed that Yama promises his sister that people who offer prayers on this day (Yama Dwetheeya) would not go to hell and they would get rid of all sorrows and sufferings. Similarly, it is believed that people having ‘Bhagini-hastha’ (food served by one’s sister) on this day would enjoy longevity and cleansed of their sins, the priest said.
