MLA Rajni Kant Chawla to lead 200 strong Indian Devout
Lahore: More than 200 Hindu pilgrims – led by Indian Legislative Assembly member (MLA) Rajni Kant Chawla and her sister Mala – will reach the Joint Check Post at Wagah Border. They will be on a special train and are coming to Pakistan to celebrate Maha Shivratri – a three-day holy festival.
Senior officers of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) will receive the delegation at Wagah Railway Station, from where they will go to Gurdwara Dera Sahib. The ETPB and other departments concerned have finalised security and other arrangements for thousands of Hindu pilgrims expected to visit Pakistan for the event.
ETPB Deputy Administrator Faraz Abbas told Daily Times that all the pilgrims would reach Gurdwara Dera Sahib on Monday. “On Tuesday morning, the pilgrims will leave for Katas Raj Temple, where they will stay till the concluding ceremony of the event, which is till March 6,” he said. He said the pilgrims would return to Lahore on Friday, and after visiting their holy places in the city and in surrounding cities, they would return to India. Besides pilgrims from other countries, a large number of Hindus living in Pakistan will also join Maha Shivratri celebrations.
Faraz Abbas told Daily Times that Hindus would fast on Maha Shivratri. “Some devotees do not drink water and stay up all night,” he said.
“The Shiva Lingam (the mark or sign of Shiva, the Hindu god) is worshipped throughout the night, as people wash it every three hours with milk, curd, honey and rose water, whilst chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’.
Hindus living in Lahore, while explaining about the festivities, said the word Maha Shivratri means the night of Shiva, and ceremonies are pre-arranged chiefly at night time. Maha Shivratri is the night on which lord Shiva and Parvati got married.
They said the Hindu community throughout the country celebrated Maha Shivratri and that the event was particularly popular in interior Sindh.
Maha Shivratri falls on the 13th (or 14th) day of the dark half of ‘Phalgun’ (February-March). The event marks the night when lord Shiva performed the Tandav dance (the dance of destruction).
Source: www.dailytimes.com.pk
Also See
» Learn Hinduism
