Varanasi: Even on the second day of Mahashivratri celebrations, thousands of devotees continued to arrive in queues to offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple on Monday, taking the total footfall close to nine lakh by late evening.The doors of the sanctum sanctorum were opened at 3.30am on Sunday for Jharokha Darshan, allowing uninterrupted entry of pilgrims for nearly 44 hours. According to temple’s CEO Vishwa Bhushan Mishra, by 5pm on Monday, total 8,78,616 devotees had offered prayers while thousands more continued to join the queues till late evening. Official figures showed that between 3.30am and 11.59pm on Sunday alone, around 6.37 lakh devotees entered the temple to worship Lord Shiva. From midnight till 5 pm on Monday, another 2,41,007 pilgrims offered prayers. After Mahashivratri festivities, which continued on city roads till late night, crowd pressure on routes leading to the temple gradually eased. As a result, queue lengths reduced significantly, and from Monday morning pilgrims were able to reach the temple without long waiting hours outside the Kashi Vishwanath Dham area.Officials said a large number of devotees in Monday’s queues were pilgrims returning from Magh Mela in Prayagraj, who chose to pass through Kashi to seek blessings after Mahashivratri. TNN
