Servitors offered the famous ‘Gaja Bhoga’ and ‘Tarana’ to Lord Shiva at Dhabaleswar temple located on the bank of river Mahanadi at Athagarh in Cuttack district late on Saturday night.
As per reports, the famous ‘Bhoga’ was offered to the Lord amid ‘Trayodashi’ and Chaturdashi’ ‘Tithi’ following the completion of a series of rituals.
The door of the temple was opened around 2 am. Subsequently, ‘Mangala Alati’ ritual was performed and then the deity was bathed with 108 pitchers of water. Then ‘Mailama’ was performed followed by some other rituals. Subsequently, devotees were allowed to have darshan of the deity.
The famous ‘Gaja Bhoga’ made of rice, flour, coconut, jaggery and cardamom was offered to the deity like every year on the occasion of ‘Bada Osha’ (biggest fasting festival) in Odisha.
Thousands of devotees thronged the 16th-century shrine and remained awake throughout the night to have darshan of Lord Dhabaleswar. As per the age-old tradition, the devotees complete their ‘Bada Osha’ and ‘Kartika Brata’ fast that they observe for the last one month after getting the Bhoga.
All arrangements have been made for selling of Lord Dhabaleswar’s ‘Prasad’ near the temple. Elaborate security arrangements have also been made by the district administration for the smooth darshan of the deity.