Mahasivaratri was celebrated with religious fervour at the historic Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Devasthanam in Vemulawada from the wee hours of Tuesday.
There was heavy rush of pilgrims from various parts of Telangana and neighbouring States at the temple shrine.
The priests from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) led by its Deputy Executive Officer Rama Rao arrived at the shrine to offer silk vastrams as part of tradition. Similarly, Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad along with Vemulawada legislator Ch Ramesh Babu presented silk vastrams on behalf of the State government. Chants of “Om Namah Shivaya” and “Hara Hara Mahadeva” rent the air. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Transport Commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Superintendent of Police V Shiva Kumar, OSD L. Subbarayudu and others offered prayers on the occasion of the festival. Similarly, there was heavy pilgrim rush at Sri Kaleshwara Muktheeshwara Swamy Devasthanam in Kaleshwaram of Mahadevpur mandal along the shores of river Godavari adjoining Chhattisgarh State. Former TTD chairman K. Bapiraju along with his family members visited Vemulawada and participated in Mahasivaratri special prayers.
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Temples across the district witnessed huge crowds on the occasion of Maha Sivaratri festival, who offeredspecial prayers. Special programmes were organised at Shiva temples such as Thousand Pillar temple in Hanamkonda, Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in Ainavolu village in Wardhannapet mandal, Sri Veerabhadra Swamy temple in Kuravi, Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in Komuravelli among others. Many temples were conducting special programmes such as dance, song and spiritual discourses for the devotees observing ‘ jagaran’ engaging them.
The Shivite temples in Nalgonda district reverberated with Siva Namasmarana as a huge number of devotees thronged the temples chanting Om Namah Sivaya.
Annual Jataras commenced at several Shivite temples on Tuesday.
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Women devotees in traditional attire offered ‘bonam’ to the god.
Wadapally Meenakshi Agastheshwara Swamy Temple located at the confluence of Krishna and Musi witnessed heavy influx of devotees. Mellacheruvu Swayambu Sambu Lingeshwara Temple also received huge number of devotes.
The annual Jatara of Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple at Nidanapally of Rammannapet mandal, Markondaiah Jathara near Thipparthy and at many other Shivite temples were also held .
Meanwhile, Sri Lakshminarsimha Swamy Temple, Yadagirigutta has also witnessed heavy activity due to increased influx of devotees to the hill shrine.
The Sivaratri festival was celebrated amid gaiety and religious fervour across the district.
Devotees, young and old alike made long queues to have darshan of Lord Siva and they got the opportunities only after long hours of waiting. Meanwhile, fruit and flower markets witnessed unusual number of customers.
Siva temples, mainly the old shrines of Kakatiya era in the district, witnessed heavy turnout of devotees on the occasion of Maha Sivaratri festival on Tuesday.
Devotees made a beeline for Visweswaralayam in Dammapeta, Sri Ganapeshwaralayam in Kusumanchi mandal and other historical temples of Kakatiya period elsewhere in the district from the early hours of the day.
A five-day religious fair commenced at Teerthala village in Khammam rural mandal coinciding with the festivities.
All the Sivalayams saw hectic devotional activity. Of special attraction were the Kadili Papahareshwara Swamy temple in Dilawarpur mandal where a few thousanddevotees gathered from Nirmal, Dilawarpur, Kuntala and Bhainsa mandal. A large number of devotees also turned up at the remotely located cave temple of Lord Someshwara at the Kuntala waterfall in Neredigonda mandal.
At Kuntala, devotees arriving from Maharashtra and other parts of Adilabad district spent the night singing bhajans. Police and forest department made elaborate bandobast for Kuntala jatara.