Athagarh: Thousands of devotees thronged Dhabaleswar temple at Athagarh for a glimpse of Baba Dhabaleswar on the occasion of ‘Bada Osha’ on Sunday.
On this occasion, ‘Gaja Pitha’ (cake), made of rice flour, jaggery, cardamom and coconut, will be offered to the deity. There are some special rituals for preparing and offering it to the Lord Dhabaleswar. This is also called ‘Gaja Bhoga’. After the puja, the ‘Gaja Bhoga’ will be distributed among the devotees.
According to sources, the devotees got darshan of the Lord in ‘Badasinghara Besha’ at the Pitha early in the morning after ‘Mangala Aarati’ and ‘Mailam’.
After ‘Jalabhisek’, ‘Rudrabhisekh’ was done with milk, honey, ghee and curd. After offering ‘Khichidi Prasad’, the Lord donned the ‘Badasinghar Besha’.
Expecting a huge crowd at the temple, the district administration has made elaborate security arrangements here at Dhabaleswar temple, situated on an island in the river Mahanadi. Five boats have been kept on the riverbank in Cuttack to ferry the devotees to the temple. Besides, six jetties have been erected near the river bank at Cuttack and Dhabaleswar for the safe boarding and landing of the devotees. For the safety of the devotees, Fire Services and ODRAF personnel have also been deployed at the jetties.
To ward off any untoward incident, 20 platoons of police have been deployed.
Bada Osha is one of the biggest Osha (fasting) festival in Odisha, which is observed from the Sukla Trayodashi (13th day) in the Odia month of Kartika.
According to Padma Purana, Lord Indra had prayed to Lord Dhabaleswar and taken a holy dip in the Mahanadi on the Kartika Purnima for a reprieve from the curse of Lord Brahma.
Notably, devotees had been flocking to the Pitha since Saturday.
