Chants of ‘Shri Krishna Govind Hare Murari, Hey Nath Narayan Vasudevaya’ reverberated in several temples across the country on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami on Monday.
The festival is also being celebrated across Odisha with gusto amidst strict observance of the Covid-19 protocols. Janmashtami marks the birthday of Lord Krishna. Devotees keep fast and visit temples to offer prayers on the pious occasion. Since early morning devotees in large numbers thronged the popular Khirachora Gopinath temple in Balasore to seek blessings from the Lord.
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Special rituals including Balya Bhoga, Sringar and many more were performed at the temple. Special barricades were set up to maintain social distancing among devotees.
“It is one of the important and auspicious days of the year. Krishna stands for universal truth. It is believed that darshan of the Lord here takes away all the sins and cleanses the soul,” said a devotee.
The devotees also welcomed the special arrangements made by the administration to facilitate smooth darshan of the deities at the Kirachora Gopinath temple.
Every year, Krishna Janmashtami falls on the eighth day (Ashtami) of Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) in Shraavana or Bhadrapad (Bhadrab). In other temples across the State, special morning Aratis and other rituals were performed as per tradition.
In Puri Jagannath Temple too special rituals are also being performed on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic situation, the Puri temple remained closed for public darshan on Bhadraba Krushnapakhya Ashtami Tithi or Janmashtami today.
Noted sand artist and Padmashree Sudarsan Pattnaik, known for his theme based sand arts, also came up with a magnificent sand sculpture of Lord Krishna. His sand sculpture carried a special prayer, “Jai Shri Krishna. Save Us from Covid-19.”