Shivratri fervour across India |
The festival of Sawan Shivratri is being celebrated across India today. Millions of devotees have been lining up temples, paying obeisance by Jal Abhishek on Shivling. The occasion is considered extremely auspicious for Hindus who observe it by fasting and worshiping Lord Shiva. It is an annual pilgrimage of the devotees of Shiva also known as Kanvaria. In the Kanwar Yatra, the devotees fetch holy water of the Ganges river from pilgrimage places like Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand and Sultanganj in Bihar and pour it on various Shiva temples in India. The 100 km Kanwar Yatra in Saavan is done barefoot by the devotees with utmost devotion and thrill. During the Kanwar Yatra the devotees store the holy water of Ganga River in pitchers and carry it on their shoulders on a small pole made from bamboo known as “Kanwar” from which the Kanvarias derive their name. The auspicious occasion of Sawan Shivaratri is observed mostly among devotees in North Indian states including Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar.
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