Ram Navami celebrated with religious fervour in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 28:

Thousands of devotees thronged temples all over Odisha today on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami, the birthday of Lord Ram, and offered their prayers and sought the blessings of the Lord.

Devotees, a majority of them on fast, made a beeline for the temples since the morning and the crowd kept welling as the day progressed.

Preparations for the celebration were special in the capital city with musical recitals of Ramcharitmanas and Ram Katha Amrit organised in various shrines of the city.

The Ram temple in the heart of the city wore a festive look today. Amid chanting of hymns and bhajans in praise of Lord Ram, devotees queued up in large numbers to have a darshan of the idols of Lord Ram, Laxman and Maa Seeta, which were decorated with flowers on this auspicious occasion.

The surroundings of the temple have also been elaborately decorated with flowers and colourful electric lights.

The temple door opened at around 4.30 am morning when Magala Alati was observed, followed by darshan for which hundreds of devotees had waited at the temple since 4 am. Rituals like Srungar Alati, Ramcharitra Manas, Nabanna Parayana Purnahuti, Homa yagyna, Puspanjali and Pahada were observed throgh the day.

The temple door was opened once again in the second half to observe Sandhya Alati and the other ritual such as Bhaogalagi, Sayana Alati. The rituals are still going on and will run late into night till Pahada.

The police have made elaborate arrangements to ensure the celebrations pass off peacefully and without a hitch. Barricades have been erected in and around the temple premises to ensure smooth movement of devotees.

“I am keeping a fast for the welfare of my family and will break the fast after getting a glimpse of the Lord. The arrangements made by temple administration are good. We are happy that we didn’t face any hassles for the Darshan,” said Sabita Kar, a resident of the city at the Kharavel Nagar Ram Temple.