A large number of devotees thronged the Ramakrishna Beach to offer prayers at the ‘Maha Sivalingam’ set up by the TSR Peetham on the occasion of Maha Sivaratri Tuesday.
‘Maha Kumbhabhishekam’ was performed by Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy to mark the occasion. Devotees worshipped the Sivalingam, which was put up with over one crore small lingams.
Special ‘abhishekam’ with waters from the holy rivers was performed to the ‘maha lingam’. Cultural programmes were organised later in the evening.
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Head of Sri Sarada Peetham Sri Swaroopanandendra Swamy, noted film-maker K. Raghavendra Rao, actor Mohan Babu, and a host of film stars and political leaders offered prayers.
Viyaan Silks distributed prasadam to the devotees at the venue.
Huge crowds thronged temples of Lord Siva at various places in the city and district right from the early hours of the day.
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At Prema Sadan
A large number of devotees participated in the Maha Sivaratri celebrations with devotion and fervour at Sri Sathya Sai Prema Sadan Mandir.
The rituals commenced with Ganapati puja. ‘Suddhi punyavacham’, ‘mahanyasa purvaka maha rudrabhishekam’, ‘laksha pushparchana’, and ‘sahasra nama kumkumarchana’ were performed.
Later in the evening, ‘kalyanam’ was performed to the deities of Lord Siva and goddess Parvathi by Ch.H.V.S.S. Ranganath and his wife. The deities were later taken around Sector-8 of MVP Colony to the accompaniment of ‘nadaswaram’, Veda chanting, and ‘Seva garidi’ by Ommu Tatayya. The celebrations concluded with ‘maha bhajan’ and ‘harathi’.
Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi district president V. R. Nageswara Rao, city unit convener P.R.S.N. Naidu, office-bearers, and devotees participated in the celebrations.