Maha Shivratri at Puri Lokanath temple: Mahadeepa to be raised at 4am

Puri: The Baba Lokanath temple in Puri is bustling with the congregation of hundreds of devotees from early morning for Mahashivaratri. The temple doors were opened by the servitors from 12:30 at night to perform the special rituals for the Shivratri. The devotees were let in to the temple premises for darshan of the lord Shiva at 5 am.

According to temple authorities, the Harihar Bhet ritual will be held at 3 pm then the Bhog, Badasinghar Besha will be performed and the Mahadeep will be raised atop the temple spire at 4 am. All arrangements have been made for the orderly darshan of the devotees. One Additional SP, 6 DSPs, and 65 SIs have been deployed to oversee the crowd management and security.