Puri: Thousands of devotees gathered at Chandrabhaga beach near Konark in Odisha’s Puri district and took a ritual bath in the holy pond on the auspicious day of Magha Saptami on Tuesday.
While Chandrabhaga river has almost become extinct, a portion of its bed is dug up and converted into a pond for the holy dip on the seventh day of the first half of the ‘Magha’ month. Worshipping of Mahadev makes celebrations of this ‘Magha Mela’ unique.
Sources said representative idols of Triveniswar of Madhipur village, Tshaneswar of Santpur village, and Dakhineswar of Kurujang village were taken out on palanquins in a procession around midnight and worshipped at Konark NAC Mandap, Tehsil Office, East Division Post Office Complex.
Thereafter, those were taken Chandrabhaga Teerth Mandap at in the wee hours and 0traditional rituals performed.
After the holy dip, the pilgrims offer prayers at Nabagraha temple on the Sun Temple premises.
It is believed that the holy dip cures people of skin diseases and wash away their sins. Legends have it that Lord Krishna’s son Shamba was cured of leprosy when he meditated and worshipped the Sun God at ‘Arka kshetra’ for 12 days after a holy dip at the Chandrabhaga river, which once flowed through the precincts of the Sun Temple at Konark towards the Bay of Bengal.
The district administration of Puri has made elaborate arrangements at Chandrabhaga beach for the festival.
According to sources, around 33 platoons of police force were deployed to ensure conduct of the event. Six Additional Superintendent of Police, 13 Deputy SP, 39 Inspectors were assigned the responsibility to maintain the law and order. Twenty lifeguards were also deployed near the beach to prevent any untoward incident, said a senior police officer.
Five temporary health service camps have been set up and two ambulances have been kept at standby. Two fire engines have also deployed at the fair ground and three generators installed for uninterrupted power supply.
