Third Somvari of auspicious month of Shravan: Temples closed, devotees pay online obeisance

Deoghar/Ranchi: Amid Coronavirus the Third Somvari (Monday) of the auspicious month of Shravan had a completely different picture in the state as people were forced to pray in their homes and offered their obeisance to Lord Shiva through the virtual Mode.

Offering Jala-abhishek to Lord Shiva on the Mondays which fall during the month of Shravan has a great significance among the Hindus with lakhs of them undertaking the Kanwar yatra carrying the water from the Holy Ganga from Sultanganj and travel a distance of 110 kilometers on foot and offer Jala-abhishek to Baba Baidyanath in Deoghar. The Baidyanath Dham temple located in Deoghar district is among the '12 Jyotirlings' dedicated to Bhagwan Shiv in the country.

However on one hand the state government decided not to organise the Shravani Mela and ban all religious activities till July 31 due to Coronavirus while on the other the High Court also did not grant permission to open the doors of the temple and directed to make arrangements for virtual darshan for the devotees due to which Deoghar which remains converted into a 'sea of orange' thanks to lakhs of 'kanwariyas' who come from all parts of the country and also abroad remained a deserted look.

The state government has made arrangements for the devotees to watch the live Aarti and other rituals at jhargov.tv and Deoghar.nic.in. The morning rituals was shown from 0445hrs to 0530hrs while the evening would be done from 1930hrs to 2015hrs.

The Deoghar district administration has also put up elaborate security arrangements to make sure that devotees do not enter in the city as part of which police personnel with magistrates have been deployed at the entry points of the district and vehicles having proper pass are only permitted inside the city.

In the state capital of Ranchi the administration had put up barricades around the Pahadi Mandir and policemen had been also posted. The district administration in Ranchi too has made arrangements for online darshan.