Bhubaneswar: Amid chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev’, thousands of devotees thronged temples and shrines of Lord Shiva across Odisha to pay obeisance on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Wednesday.
In Bhubaneswar, people in large numbers were seen standing in long queues at Lingaraj Temple for ‘Sahanamela darshan’, which began at 3:30 am, to have a glimpse of the deity.
“Barricades have been put up to facilitate hassle-free darshan to devotees and adequate police personnel deployed to maintain law and order and traffic,” an official from the Lingaraj Temple Administration said.
The ‘Mahadeep’ will be placed atop the 11th century shrine at 10 pm, the officer added.
Other prominent shrines including Lokanath in Puri, Kapilash of Dhenkanal, Dhabaleswar of Cuttack, Aradi of Bhadrak, Chandaneswar of Bhadrak and Bareniput of Jeypore have also become the major crowd-pullers.
