Cuttack: Thousands of devotees have thronged Dhabaleswar Temple to have a darshan of Lord Shiva at the shrine located in Athagarh block of the district, on the occasion of 'Bada Osa' today.
'Bada Osa' holds a special relevance among other fests and is celebrated at different Shiva shrines across the state. It is observed in the month of November or Kartika Sukla Trayodashi (13th day of bright fortnight of Kartika month) every year.
As per the rituals, a unique prasad 'Gaja Bhoga' will be offered to the Lord in the midnight and subsequently it will be distributed among the devotees tomorrow.
"Since 3 am, all members of Pujak Samiti are busy in preparing 'Gaja Bhoga'. After Mangala Arati, the devotees were allowed to have a darshan of the Lord in Badasinghara Besha," said the temple priest.
"Coming from such a long distance, we are feeling extremely happy after such a peaceful darshan," expressed a devotee.
Elaborate security arrangements were made by the Cuttack district administration for the hassle-free darshan by devotees. CCTV cameras have been installed at strategic locations in and around the temple premises. This apart, 25 platoons of police forces have been deployed for crowd management and maintaining law and order.
"Police forces have been deployed in places including Hanging bridge and parking area to maintain discipline," said Choudwar SDPO SN Das.
Das further added, "We have instructed the devotees to wear life jacket while crossing the river. To avoid any untoward incident, we have directed our staff to put a check on the numbers of passengers in the boats."