Stage is all set for the annual Maha Sivaratri Jatara at the ancient and historic Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Devasthanam in Vemulawada of Karimnagar district which would be held from February 16 to 18, including the main festival on February 17.
Already, the temple authorities have started sprucing up the temple for the ensuing grand festival of the devasthanam. As there is no biennial Samakka-Sarakka jatara during this year, the devasthanam authorities were expecting heavy influx of pilgrims for the Maha Sivaratri Jatara to the Vemulawada. Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad along with local legislator Ch. Ramesh Babu, temple EO D. Rajeshwar and others reviewed the arrangements for the jatara festival. With the temperature starting to soar, the devasthanam authorities have decided to erect temporary pandals to protect the pilgrims from the sun in the temple town and also all along the special queue lines. They also decided to distribute more than 3 lakh water sachets and 50,000 buttermilk packets.
Drinking water facilities
The Panchayat Raj and municipal authorities were informed to maintain round-the-clock sanitation by deploying additional sanitary workers during the jatara period. The rural water supply authorities were instructed to ensure adequate drinking water was made available at all places in the temple town.
The Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) priests would visit the temple on Mahasivaratri festival and present silk vastrams on behalf of TTD. Similarly, the government would also present silk vastrams to the presiding deities on the festival. The devasthanam authorities have also decided to allocate special darshan for the devotees wearing Shiva Deeksha malas on the festival day.
On Mahasivaratri, no other rituals would be conducted by the devotees except for the traditional ‘kode mokku’. The police were also instructed to deploy additional police forces for smooth conduct of jatara and avoid any untoward incident during jatara.
