Maha Shivratri – The great religious day of Hindu calendar – the 13^th night of new moon in the month of Maagh has arrived, tonight is the eve of Maha Shivratri, tommrrow on 2^nd of March Hindus will celebrate the day of Maha Shivratri by observing various religious rituals including fasting and worshiping shiva linga.

The preparations of maha shivratari in Udaipur has reached to its extreme , Famous temple Eklingji and Mahakaleshwar including other Shiv temples of the city are decorated with lights and arrangements of tomorrow’s puja.

It is expected that temple of Mahakeleshwar might be visited by 80,000 devotees.

At Mahakaleshwar Temple located at Ambamata, many religious programs are going to start tomorrow early morning 4 am with a sacred bath of Shivling with holy water of Ganges followed by Pancham Ras where 5 different elements, milk, curd, ghee, honey and sweetener will be used. Sugarcane juice will be used to continue the holy bath, lastly with Bhaang.

The prayers at Mahakaleshwar will be conducted by Pandit Pankaj Sharma.

Following the event, a grand rally by Hindu devotees was carried out in the city today to celebrate the eve of Mahashivratri.

This religious procession was organized by Shiv Dal Mewar, nearly 1000 devotees participated in this rally which passed through many areas of old city and concluded at Sukhadia Rang Manch.

This procession was welcomed by many small organizations including autorikshaw union at Dandpol who welcomed devotees with Prasad and sweet water. This union at Dandpol (Ashwini Bazaar) also indulges in social service of settling a permanent 24hrs water pots to help people.

Hundreds of orange turban clad men, camel carts with replicas of Shivling, decorated elephants and spirits of sacred supremacy were clearly appearing on the faces of Shiva disciples.

Here are some exclusive clicks by UT Reporter Sayeed Ahmed