Navratra fair kicks off at Chintpurni

Our Correspondent

Una, March 18

The 10-day Chaitra Navratra fair today began at the Chintpurni shrine here.

Thousands of devotees thronged the temple, which has been decorated with flowers and lights, on Day 1. According to the legend, a local devotee, Mai Das, was blessed by the diety, who later found a stone idol below a banyan tree and began worshiping it. Today, an ancient banyan tree exists in the temple, besides the sanctum that houses the idol of the deity. Devotees tie a sacred thread to the banyan tree to get their desires fulfilled.

Amb SDM Sunil Verma, who is also the Navratra fair Magistrate, said the shrine area had been divided into three sectors, each under the control of a sector magistrate and a sector police official. At least 450 security officials had been deputed and the offering of coconut, playing brass bands and beating of drums had been strictly prohibited during the fair, he added. Temporary toilets had also been installed en route the temple from the Mubarikpur chowk. Additional sanitation workers had also been roped in.

He said security cameras had been installed and computerised slips were being issued to devotees for ‘darshan’.