Mumbai temples, crematoria ready for Mahashivratri

[Android]

MUMBAI: Ascetic and householder, creator and destroyer, one who accepts
offerings as varied as milk and the poisonous dhatura, Lord Shiva evokes
awe and admiration within urban yuppies and mendicants alike.
Sunday's festival of Mahashivratri, the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, will
be celebrated nationwide, drawing the curtains on the grand Mahakumbh
at Prayag.
Temples and crematoria, for Mahadev is the funeral ground's presiding
deity, will perform puja and 'abhishek'. Bearing offerings of blue lotus and
the three-leaved 'bilvapatra', devotees perform half a circumambulation
around Ashutosh's 'shivling' so as to not cross the font of the Ganga
emanating from his matted locks.
Hundreds gather at the 952-year-old Shiva temple in Ambernath, whose
walls are carved with scenes of the holy wedding, and at Vashi's
Jagruteshwar Mandir, where 10,000 are fed 'mahaprasad'. Babulnath
temple manager Ramesh Gandhi says 200 volunteers will distribute tea and
sherbet to 5 lakh devotees as the wait for darshan spans two hours.
Mahadev's sculpture is installed inside every Hindu crematorium.
Dilipkumar Pawar, manager at Chandanwadi, says, "Shiva is described as
'smashanwasi'. Each year we call a priest to perform a puja and aarti on
Mahashivratri."
Goregaon's new Shivdham crematorium is observing its second
Mahashivratri this year, says trustee Aneel Murarka, who has built a
marble temple in the compound.
In Nerul, Bhimashankar Complex residents will offer prayers in the
compound temple.

m.timesofindia.com/city/mumbai/Mumbai-temples-crematoria-ready-for-Mahashivratri/articleshow/18886118.cms

 

[Cherokee]