Bhubaneswar: Feb 23: State Capital of Odisha, Bhubaneshwar is ready to celebrate its most awaited festival Maha Shivaratri tomorrow. The city of temples’ celebrates almost all Hindu Festivals, but Shiva Ratri is someway special to the city dwellers. Because, majority of temples remain in Bhubaneswar are dedicated to Lord Shiva. The name Bhubaneshwar comes from Shiva’s Sanskrit name, Tribhubaneswar, meaning “Lord of Three Worlds”. As History speaks, many of the temples in Bhubaneshwar were built from the 8th-12th centuries AD, during the time that Saivism (worship of Lord Shiva) dominated the religious scene. The most important Temple of Lord Shiva in Bhubaneswar is Lingaraj Temple. Thousands of devotees throng to this temple to offer prayers to their God Lord Lingaraj. Besides Lingaraj Temple, other important temples which attract the devotees are Brahmeswar Temple, Megheswar Temple, Bhaskareswar Temple and others. On this day, devotees stand in queue for hours together to have a darshan of Lord. They do fasting on this day and remain on fast, till the ‘Mahadipa’ (a huge candle) is lit on the temple spire. Twin-City Police has to make elaborate security arrangements around the temple for the mega religious celebration. This year, besides security arrangement,the administration has installed barricades in front of the temple. Mats will be laid out inside the temple for devotees. Besides, 22 CCTV cameras have been installed for security reasons. The rituals are scheduled to begin as early as 3AM in the morning and the Maha Dipa will be lifted atop Lingaraj temple at 10 PM in the night.
Besides the Capital City of Odisha, a large number of devotees flock to Shiva temples in other parts of the state as well. Huge crowds are seen in Shiva temples like Chandrasekhar temple in Dhenkanal district, Dhabaleswar temple of Cuttack, Vedavyas of Sundergarh, Gupteswar temple of Koraput, Mukteswar in Ganjam, Akhandalmani of Bhadrak and Sriloknath temple in Puri.
