Mathura, Sep 11 (PTI) Lakhs of pilgrims on Wednesday paid obeisance to ‘Radha Rani’ at the Ladli temple here as she was bathed in 51 quintals of milk, curd, and honey before being adorned with attire and ornaments worth Rs 31 lakh on Radha Ashtami.
The ‘Abhishek’ (bathing) ceremony was conducted in the morning during the ‘Brahma Muhurta’ amid chants of Vedic hymns.
“The Abhishek was performed with a mixture of 51 quintals of milk, curd, honey, khandsari, ghee, and 11 varieties of herbs,” Ras Bihari Goswami, a priest at the Ladli temple in Barsana, said.
“This was followed by an ‘aarti’ and ‘darshan’ of Radha Rani in a golden cradle. The deity was adorned with a rare ‘poshak’ (attire) and ornaments valued at over Rs 31 lakh amid the chants of ‘Radhe Radhe’,” the priest said.
A large number of pilgrims gathered at the temple to participate in the celebrations and performed a ‘parikrama’ of Gahvar Van while singing religious songs, he said.
As the air reverberated with chants of “Radhey Radhey”, religious fervour gripped the temple. Seventeen drones showered rose petals on the canopy of the temple and the cradle of the deity in the evening leaving the devotees awestruck, Goswami said.
Drones were used as a helicopter could not fly due to inclement weather, he added.
“In the evening the ‘Dola’ (palanquin) of the deity was brought back to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple amidst the beating of drums and blowing of conch shells. Prior to that, the ‘Arta’ of the deity was performed by a teenage girl,” the priest stated.
An ‘Arta’ is like an arti but performed by a teenage daughter of a temple priest only on three occasions in a year, including Radha Ashtami.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (Mathura) Shailesh Kumar Pandey, more than 10 lakh pilgrims have arrived in the temple town to pay obeisance to the deity.
No untoward incident has been reported, he added.
At the Radha Vallabh temple in nearby Vrindavan, priests danced in a circle and sang songs praising Goddess Radha while curd mixed with turmeric was splashed on them as part of the celebrations, priest Mohit Maral Goswami said.
The Abhishek ceremony was also held at temples in Rawal village, Dwarkadhish temple, Srikrishna Janmasthan’s Keshav Deo temple, Chandrodaya temple in Vrindavan, and other temples in Brijbhumi, Rakesh Tiwari, legal advisor and PRO of Dwarkadhish temple, said.
At the Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan, the ‘Veni Gunthan Leela’, wherein Lord Krishna ties the hair of Goddess Radha into a braid, was performed in the ‘Chauk’ (courtyard) area, Gyanendra Kishor Goswami the priest of the temple said.
Earlier this week, security was stepped up in Barsana town ahead of the Radha Asthami festival.
Barsana was divided into seven zones and 16 sectors with senior officers being made in charge of the zones and SDM-level officers looking after the sectors, District Magistrate Shailendra Singh had said.
A total of seven additional SPs, 34 circle officers, 78 inspectors, 290 sub-inspectors, 1,400 constables, 375 home guards, and two companies of PAC have been deployed to ensure security at the fair, the DM had said.
A few personnel, including women constables in plain clothes, were stationed inside all temples to prevent chain snatching, pickpocketing, and mobile phone thefts.
Barbed fencing has been installed around the three major ‘kunds’ (ponds) in Barsana to avoid drowning incidents while 52 CCTVs and drone cameras were used to identify any anti-social elements. PTI COR KIS BHJ RHL
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