YAM DWITIYA

Mathura/Goverdhan October 23 (IANS)

 

Police and district officials in Mathura are now getting ready to cope with the huge rush for Goverdhan puja and the mass bathing in Yamuna on Yam Dwitiya, Friday and Saturday.

 

The brother and sister temple, dedicated to Yamuna and Yamraj, at the Vishram Ghat is all set to receive lakhs of people after the customary bath in Yamuna on Bhai dooj. "The belief is that if brother and sister together take a holy dip in Yamuna, the god of death Yamraj would be appeased and bless a long life," said Mathura panda Madhukar Chaturvedi. "Only in Mathura you have a temple of brother and sister," he added.

 

The Yamuna ghats in Vrindavan and Mathura are being swept clean and new barricaded being put up to regulate crowd movement. The Mathura Brahmin Sabha has demanded release of more water in the river to dilute pollutants and bring the water closer to the ghats. "We expect at least a lakh pilgrims congregating the ghats on Saturday. Many have already come from far and wide, including NRIs. The dharamshalas and hotels are full," said Mukesh Sharma, a shop keeper near the Dwarkadheesh Temple.

 

In Goverdhan, pilgrims continue to pour in for the parikrama and the "Annakoot" darshan Friday. "When Sri Krishna lifted the Goverdhan hill on his little finger to save the Brajwasis from the wrath of Indra Dev, all varieties of food items, whoever could whatever, were put together for a common feast. Thats how the tradition of community feasting on Anna Koot started," explained Chandra Kant Tripathi of the Central Hindi Institute. You must remember Sri Krishna was both an environmentalist and a socialist at heart, he added.

 

Ahead of the Annakoot festival, there has been a general 25 percent increase in the prices of all vegetables. "For a special dish, a kind of mixed vegetable that has a bit of all routine and exotic vegetables, the demand goes up, leading to prices shooting," said vegetable seller Arvind Baghael.

 

Sri Krishna temples in Vrindavan and Gokul are also gearing up for the Goverdhan puja followed with Annakoot prasad distribution.

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