Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 26: Undeterred by scorching heat, thousands of devotees thronged the holy shrine of Goddess Maha Ragneya here at Bhawani Nagar on the occasion of Jesht Ashtami today to pay obeisance to Goddess.
The rush of devotees started from wee hours in the morning and it swelled during the day and continued till late in the evening.
The Bhajan Kirtan started in the shrine at 5-30 am and in the evening at 7-30 pm a Maha Aarti was held in the Shrine in which a large number of devotees participated.
A Maha Yagya was also held at the shrine and it culminated with Puran Ahuti in the afternoon. Later the devotees were served with prashad.
The devotees performed Pooja archana in the shrine in a traditional way. Entire Bhawani Nagar was decorated fully by the people and the area gave a festive look as people had erected welcome gates enroute from Janipur -Bantalab road to holy shrine.
The devotees had also installed chabeels to serve the cold water to the pilgrims visiting the shrine. The stalls were also installed to serve fruit etc to devotees.
The Ard Ratri Maha Ragneya Sewa Sanstha which is looking after the management of the Shrine had made elaborate arrangements for the devotees in close coordination with State administration.
Traders had also established stalls to sell Pooja Samgri, flowers, sweets and other confectionary items on the occasion.
It may be recalled that Bhawani Nagar temple was constructed as a replica of Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple Tulmula by the Kashmiri Pandit devotees after their mass exodus from the Valley and the shrine has become one of the important pilgrimage centres of the displaced Pandits in Jammu since then.
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