Some thousands of Telugu NRIs, along with other Indians and also huge number of Nepalese, celebrated Mahashivaratri in Dubai on Friday. Shivaratri here feel on a weekend holiday on Friday and which brought about a festive spirit among devotees.
The old Shiva Mandir in Burj Dubai reverberated with the chanting of ‘Hara Hara Mahadeva’ and ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ on the occasion.
“Over one lakh faithful devotees offered their prayers on a single day”, K Nageshwar Rao, who looks after Prasadam distribution at the Shiva Mandir, told ‘Telangana Today’ over phone. He said that more crowds are expected on Saturday too.
He said that besides a group of dedicated volunteers, the Dubai police also made elaborate arrangements for the festival. “I was in queue for four hours to get darshan’, said V Anuradha.
Anticipating a huge crowd, I decided to offer the puja on Saturday, said M Rameshchandra of Uppal.
Many people from Telangana offered puja to presiding deities whereas the Andhra community preferred to take a dip at the beach here, similar to taking a holy dip back home before the puja.
The Shiva Mandir, the only Hindu temple in UAE, is located at Souq Al Banian, (Baniya community of India) set up by the trading communities from Sindh and Gujarat in 1958 with the permission of the then ruler Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum.
Courtesy: Telangana Today
