Chants of “Om Linga, Om Linga” resonated as barefoot Hindu pilgrims, many balancing offering-filled baskets and clay pitchers on their heads, climbed more than 100 steps to a hilltop shrine in southern India.
One family led a goat wearing a marigold garland around its neck. A burly man carrying two young children in his arms gripped a live chicken in his free hand, while another man carried a goat across his shoulders.
The animals were offered as sacrifices to Lingamanthula Swamy, believed to be a form of Lord Shiva, and his sister, Choudamma, in return for prosperity and protection.
Photo: AP
A box in which idols of Lingamanthula, his sister and other deities are stored was taken to the Lingamanthula Swamy temple during the pilgrimage and opened ceremoniously in front of the devotees.
Their pilgrimage, known as the Peddagattu Jatara, takes place every two years. During the five-day festival that ended on Thursday, tens of thousands visit the temple in Suryapet, in the southern state of Telangana.
Women wore bright clothes and flowers in their braided hair. Tumeric, an Indian cooking staple, but also essential in Hindu rituals, was made into a paste and smeared on the temple steps and walls, as well as the foreheads of the goats before they were sacrificed.
The pilgrimage is believed to have originated in the 16th century — before the temple was built on the huge rock that gave the pilgrimage its name, Peddagattu, or “large rock” in the local Telugu language.
At the central shrine, clay pitchers filled with bonam — rice cooked with the coarse sugar known as jaggery — were offered.
Devotees walked clockwise around the shrine, under the dappled light filtering from bamboo canopies shielding them from the blazing sun. Some played drums, danced and enacted scenes from Hindu epics.
Others chanted prayers and walked reverently with folded palms.
A woman wearing a holy mark on her forehead went into a trance shouting and swaying violently.
The words out of her mouth were guttural and slurred, but the pious surrounded her and asked for blessings.
Devotees, who arrived from faraway places, cooked their sacrificed animals on open fires outside their tents on the grounds surrounding the temple. The food was then shared among family and friends with much merriment and cheer.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS