Agra: Thousands of Shiva devotees are going out to complete the circumambulation while chanting praises of Bholenath in the historical circumambulation starting on the second Monday of Sawan in Agra. Wearing the colors of Bholenath, the devotees of Shiva are leaving their designated place, dancing barefoot, to have a darshan of their deity and perform Jalabhishek on them.
Shiva devotees are involved in 40 kilometer parikrama
Historical parikrama of about 40 kilometers is started in Agra from the Sunday evening before the second Monday of Sawan. Thousands of Shiva devotees participate in this circumambulation barefoot, chanting praises of Bholenath. This circumambulation, which starts from Sunday evening, ends at around 8 am on Monday morning.
Shiva devotees of all ages participate in the parikrama of Agra. In which small children, teenagers, youth and elders also complete this circumambulation by chanting Bholenath. Bad roads, rains and many problems of thorns come in front of the devotees while walking barefoot. But swinging in the devotion of Bholenath, chanting Bam Bhole and singing and dancing, these devotees complete the circumambulation in 12 to 13 hours.
Thousands of devotees are visible on the streets from 7:00 pm today. This parikrama starts from the Balkeshwar temple in Agra. After which Shiva devotees reach Rajeshwar temple via Tajganj, then Ravli Mahadev, Prithvinath and then reach Kailash Mahadev temple located in Sikandra area. From here, going to Bankhandi Mahadev located in the forests of Babool, they complete their circumambulation at the Balkeshwar Mahadev temple.
District administration is ready
The district administration had made claims of potholes and cleanliness arrangements on the roads before parikrama. But when Dainik Bhaskar investigated it, the roads were found carved in many places and potholes were also found. Today, the devotees have to circumambulate through these pits and pebbles.
For the hospitality and service of Shiva devotees, people have organized bhandaras at various places on the parikrama route. Some are distributing cold sherbet and some are giving juice. Somewhere there is cooling and somewhere the devotees are being given the prasad of Bhandara. Arrangements are made for hundreds of Shiva devotees by putting up pandals and sound all along the way.
Mahadev’s painting done around the pagoda
At the same time, the area around the Shivalaya located at the four corners of Agra has been painted with the painting of Mahadev. Om Namah Shivay, Jai Mahakal, Mahadev and many other types of spiritual paintings are being made all around. This painting is being made by the alumni of Lalit Kala Sansthan and all the girl students of BD Jain Girls.
Under the direction of the Municipal Corporation, the walls around the city’s main Shiva temples Rajeshwar, Balkeshwar, Kailash Mahadev and Rawali Mahadev were still covered with spit and other filth. Those walls are being made Shivamay by the color workers. On the first Monday of Sawan, Mahadev’s form was engraved on all the walls around Rajeshwar. Due to which the entire surrounding area got colored in the color of Bhole Bhandari.
Tomorrow is the second Monday of Sawan, in such a way preparations have started for a grand fair around Balkeshwar Mahadev. And tomorrow a crowd of thousands of devotees will throng Mahadev Balkeshwar Nath. For which the work of painting the walls in the vicinity of Balkeshwar temple by these color workers has started. On the third Monday of Kailash Mahadev and on the fourth Monday of Sawan, all these painters will show their painting skills around Ravli Mahadev temple.
Himanshu, the main member of the group painting Mahadev on the wall told that our group is freelance. We do painting from place to place. Our group mainly consists of me, Protsahan and Arvind. Along with this, many girl students of BD Jain Girls College are also helping us in this painting work. This work is being done by the Municipal Corporation.
Till now we had done painting around Rajeshwar temple which took us a week. Now our work is going on around Balkeshwar temple and after that we will do painting work around Kailash temple and Ravli temple. Let us tell you that this is the same painter who painted all the walls of the city with spiritual colors during the G-20 in Agra. Which was praised by the people of the whole city.
Report- Raghavendra, Agra
(youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM3c4tVp26s)
