Maha Sivaratri was celebrated with traditional devotion and fervour all over the city on Monday. Large queues were seen at temples of Lord Siva right from the early hours.
Special pujas were performed at temples all over the city. Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas offered special pujas at Sri Durgalamma temple near Poorna Market and at Sri Yerukumamba temple at Dondaparthy. He said that the temples were already modernised with funds from the government and pilgrim amenities would be improved further with additional funds.
Special pujas were offered to Goddess Durga at Sri Durgalamma temple as part of the annual jaatara mahotsavam organised on the occasion of Maha Sivaratri. Similarly, devotees offered prayers to Goddess Yerukumamba with turmeric water as part of the annual jaatara mahotsavam organised in connection with Maha Sivaratri.
A huge Siva Lingam made up of 1.08 crore small Sivalingams wes installed at the Ramakrishna Beach by the TSR Seva Peetham as part of the 27th Maha Sivaratri Kumbabhishekam. Special pujas were performed by Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy. Thousands of devotees had darshan and offered prayers right from the morning. Director K. Viswanath offered prayers to the huge Sivalingam.
The city police made elaborate arrangements for the smooth flow of traffic on the Beach Road and to ensure the orderly movement of devotees on the beach. The whole area reverberated with the chants of Lord Siva.
Later in the evening, a musical programme was conducted under the auspices of music director Saluri Vasu Rao. Budding singers enthralled the audience with their devotional numbers on Lord Siva and Lord Venkateswara from old and new films. Director K. Viswanath, actors Manju Bhargavi and Tulasi seemed to take a trip down memory lane as the singers presented hit numbers from the hit film ‘Sankarabharanam'.
Transport Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, Director D. Rama Naidu, a number of MLA s and Congress leaders were among those who were present.
