Devotees make beeline for Panchalinga darshana

Panchalinga darshana occurring for third time in the gap of seven years is first in the history of 120 years

     

Yesterday (December 2), being the last Monday of the Karthik Masa, it coincided with the beginning of the holy Darshan of five sacred 'Shivlingas' at Talakad, known as Panchalinga Darshan.

A teaming sea of devotees thronged this desert city whose history dates back to more than thousands years. The dovecotes after having holy dip in the River Cauvery, were seen waiting patiently in a long queue from the wee hours of Monday, to have the darshana of Lord Vaidyanatheshwar and Godess Manonmani, the main presiding deities at Talkad.

After the CM visited the temple and offered payers on time, the public were allowed inside the temple. Necessary arrangements were made by the District Administration for Darshana, making sure no inconvenience is caused for devotees. Information kiosks was set up at main temple premises.

Adequate security arrangements were made by the Police to monitor the crowd visiting the various temples, in addition to the already erected barricades.

The parking arrangements for vehicles were made two kilo meters away from the main temple. Devotees, specially women and children were seen walking without any tiredness. To maintain hygiene bleaching power were spread surrounding to temple premises and way to river.

Special buses were plied frequently to and fro Mysore. The recently inaugurated bridge at T Narasipur and the asphalted roads made the journey comfortable when compared with previous occasions.

Temple Main Priest Anand Dikshit said that after performing puja at Gokarna Suvarna around 5 am, they performed Ganapathi pooja, Rudrabhisheka, Panchamruthabhisheka and several other rituals at the temple.

Devotees will be allowed till mid night 12 pm on all the eleven days.

Minister V Srinivasa Prasad, HC Mahadevappa, Mahadeva Prasad, MPs Ramya, Dhruvanarayan and other elected representatives were present.

Interesting Facts

* This year's Panchalinga Darshan is occurring for the third time within a span of seven years in this century (2006, 2009, 2013), which is considered to be very unique.

Priest KS Venkatachala said that this is first in the history of 120 years three times Panchalinga darshan has occurred. He predicted that the next auspicious date for the Panchalinga Darshan might fall on 2026. In date back panchalinga darshan was held at 1952, 1959, 1966, 1979, 1986, 1993, 2006, 2009 and 2013.

* Another interesting feature is that as per the tradition, two senior priests Sri Krishna Dixit and Shiva Dikshit, will be cordoned off for the next 11 days at temple premises and they will partake food only once a day. They say this practice is being followed by centuries.

* Its believed that having darshana of Panchalinga's (five Shivlingas) such as Pathaleshwara, Marleshwara, Arkeshwara, Mallikarjunaswamy and Vaidyanatheshwara during this days is considered as very auspicious.

Sidelights

* Women creating linga out of sand on the banks of river, were seen offering Ganga puja.

* Tricycle arrangements were made for physically challenged persons.

* Villagers of Malangi, and surrounding of Kollegal taluk were seen crossing over the temporary bridge constructed by militants.

* The devotees who were reaching temple through walk for two kilo meters were seen wandering in search of water on the way. Devotee Chinnaiah said that the officials should take measures to set-up water kiosks on the route.

* Various organisations had organised mass feeding programme and distributed prasadam for the devotees.