Thousands bathe in sea on Magha Saptami
By IANSFriday, January 22, 2010
BHUBANESWAR - More than 300,000 people took a holy dip in the sea near Konark temple in Orissa’s Puri district on the occasion of Magha Saptami early Friday, braving the cold.
People take a dip in the belief that it gets rid of their diseases and sins.
“Mythologies say that Lord Krishna’s son Samba got rid of his diseases by worshiping the sun god. So worshipping sun god on his birthday on the seventh day of Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of the moon) in Magha month is considered auspicious. People come to Chandrabhaga on this day to have darshan (glimpse) of the early sun,” said Surendra Mishra, a researcher.
Thousands of people had Thursday camped near the sea to take a dip and have an early view of the sun.
Elaborate arrangements were made by the district administration along the Chandrabhaga coast. More than 200 policemen were deployed.
“We have set up tents along the Chandrabhaga coast. Barricades have been erected so that the devotees can go in a queue and take the dip. Keeping in view the large number of people, we have deployed policemen to manage the traffic,” said Fakir Satpathy, collector of Puri district.
The average minimum temperature in Puri district Friday was 16.2 degrees Celsius, four notches below average for this time of the year.
