New Delhi, 26 February (HS): Mahashivratri festival is being celebrated with great pomp and show across the country today. Crowds have gathered since morning on all major river banks, Shiva temples and other major temples. People are taking a holy dip in the rivers and reaching Shiva temples for Jalabhishek. All directions are resonating with the proclamation of Har-Har Gange and Bam-Bam Bhole.

There is a huge crowd in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh today. Due to the last bath of Mahakumbh, people have camped here for many days. All the ghats of Sangam are full. People are earning virtue by taking a holy dip and remembering Lord Shiva.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is monitoring the arrangements of Mahakumbh from the control room located at Gorakhnath temple. Mahashivratri is also being celebrated in Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram and Chitrakoot, the place of penance.

People are taking holy bath and offering prayers on the banks of Saryu and Mandakani rivers. Flowers have been showered on saints at Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, the city of Bholebaba.

Lakhs of people are reaching Kashi Vishwanath temple for darshan.

Crowds of devotees have gathered since morning to worship at Jhandewalan temple in national capital Delhi. There is a queue of devotees at Shri Dudheshwar Nath temple in Ghaziabad. Similar scene is seen at ancient Shiva temple situated on Baba Kharak Singh Road in Delhi.

A large number of devotees have reached Kadu Malleshwar temple on the occasion of Mahashivratri in Bengaluru, Karnataka. People are offering prayers at Shri Babulnath temple in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. There is a huge crowd of devotees at Shri Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga temple in Nashik.

Apart from this, a large number of devotees have reached Shri Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga temple situated in Deoghar, Jharkhand, the holy abode of Shiva. There is no place to keep sesame seeds in the world famous Shri Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple of Ujjain.

People are queuing up since the morning aarti to get Baba's darshan and seek his blessings. Thousands of people have reached the Shivala Bagh Bhaiyya temple in Amritsar, Punjab to offer water. People are queuing up since morning for Jalabhishek at Lingaraj temple in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar. In other parts of the country too, devotees of Lord Shiva are offering prasad by performing Jalabhishek at their own level.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar