Varanasi: After receiving by courier gifts from Mata Vishno Devi Shrine Board, a group of priests from Mathura reached the holy city on Sunday night with gifts from Shri Krishna Janambhumi temple to offer to Lord Kashi Vishwanath, adding more colours to Mahashivratri celebration to take place on Feb 15 and 16.“A total of 18 prominent temples of the country sent letters regarding dispatch of prasad, shringar (decoration) materials and other articles associated with the temples concerned to offer at Kashi Vishwanath temple during the Mahashivratri celebration,” said KV temple’s CEO Vishwa Bhushan Mishra on Sunday, adding that number of temples and shrine areas showing interest in ensuring their participation in Mahashivratri celebration may go up to 30.The KV temple witnessed prominent temples of the country sending offerings for Lord Vishwanath after water from Rameshwaram reached in past years. The trend began of temples of Sanatan tradition getting connected with each other by sending offerings from their sites during the main celebrations of other temples, said Mishra, who was busy in preparations to welcome the team that left Mathura on Sunday morning.Shri Krishna Janambhumi temple’s secretary Kapil Mishra said his team left Mathura with prasad to offer at the KV temple on Mahashivratri, keeping in mind sentiments of Brajwasis and crores of Lord Krishna devotees. Leaving Mathura amidst a shower of flower petals and tunes of a band, Mishra said Lords Shiv, Ram and Krishna were the soul of Sanatan and India and this initiative was a step to further strengthen the divine connection to re-establish the golden days of the resurgence of Sanatan Dharma’s glory. “All famous offerings, including sweets, fasting food, laddoos, dry fruits, fruits, garlands, ornaments of Gauri, jewellery of the goddess and other materials, were dispatched from Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi,” he added.The temple witnessed beginning of a series of events as part of Mahashivratri celebration on Feb 6 with Ganesh Pujan. The CEO said Vaishno Devi Shrine Board sent Mata’s chunari, dupatta, prasad and coins and many other articles. Mumbai’s Shree Siddhivinayak temple and authorities of many temples in South India, also alerted officials regarding gifts sent by them.Apart from these, officials remained busy in finalising a foolproof plan to manage crowd during the forthcoming festival. Police commissioner Mohit Agrawal, divisional commissioner S Rajalingam, district magistrate Satyendra Kumar, along with officials of Varanasi Municipal Corporation, electricity department, NDRF, CRPF, fire brigade, health, food safety and all other security and facility-providing departments, held a meeting on Saturday evening.All departments were assigned tasks. Officials inspected the entire KV Dham premises to ensure that all departments worked with mutual coordination for the festive arrangements. After Mangla Aarti, the sanctum sanctorum of the temple will be opened for devotees on Feb 15 at 3.30 am and it will be closed at 11 pm on Feb 16.
