The Second Tuesday (April 09, 2013) of the Hindu month of Chaitra passed off peacefully at Maa Tara Tarini Hill Shrine near Berhampur in Odisha.
With the chanting of traditional Mantras on the midnight of Monday the festivals of the holy Tuesday started. The priests performed the Snana, Majana and Maha Arati of the Goddesses at the midnight. After these traditional ceremonies the sanctum sanctorum of the Shrine, considered as the Sthana Pitha (Breast Shrine) of Adi Shakti, was thrown open for Darshan of devotees at 2 am in the morning.
During the Maha Arati festival at the midnight around 30 thousand devotees were present in the hill shrine. Mr. Satyabrata Sahu, IAS Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Fisheries & ARD Department Government of Odisha including many other senior officials of the State Government, district administration, office bearers of TTDB and Tara Tarini temple administration were present during this occasion.
The Second Tuesday of this holy Chaitra month saw footfall of around 2 to 3 lakh devotees in the hill Shrine starting from the wee hours till late evening. Devotees waited in long queues to take a glimpse of Adi Shakti Tara Tarini and offer prayers at the temple on the hill-top.
People from every nook and corner of Odisha and far off places of the country and outside were present on the occasion.
On this occasion more than ten thousand kids tonsured their heads as per the age-old tradition of offering hair of newborns after the first birthday at the Shrine for a blissful life.
TTDB arranged Khichdi Prasad of Maa Tara Tarini besides safe drinking water was distributed to the devotees.
As per the tradition around 3000 groups from different parts of the State cooked their food as an offering to the goddesses in the orchards at the foothill and had a day of picnic at the Shrine.
Heavy police deployment was made by the local administration to avert any untoward incident and control the large number of people gathered for the fair. The district administration made arrangements to control traffic in and around the shrine.
Police beat houses and temporary health centers were set up near the foot hill bus stop and at the Lions’ Gate of the shrine.
Six special buses were pressed into service to help the devotees reach the hill top. Arrangements were also made for special Darshan of Maa on the hill shrine.
However, in an unfortunate incident two devotees died during the Chaitra Yatra. Siddhant Behera (16) of Keshapur drowned in river Rushikulya during taking bath and K Rina Patra of Balarampur under Hinjilikatu police station died as a branch of a mango tree fell on her near Panthashala on the foothill of the shrine.
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