The major share is cash offerings and donations at the sanctum sanctorum. However, this Navratri festival, no pilgrim could come to the holy cave shrine because of Covid 19.
The Mata Vaishno Devi shrine near Jammu, where the rush of devotees peaks during the ongoing nine-day long Navratri festival, has almost been deserted in the wake of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic even as the rituals have continued and are being telecast live. The three-week countrywide lockdown imposed to check the Covid-19 spread has coincided with the festival that would conclude on Thursday.
“During the Navratri festival, the shrine’s base camp of Katra, on an average, witnesses a footfall of 35,000 to 45,000 pilgrims daily. And during this nine-day long festival, offerings in cash, ornaments and online donations, on average, are worth Rs 45 lakh daily. The major share is cash offerings and donations at the sanctum sanctorum. However, this Navratri festival, no pilgrim could come to the holy cave shrine because of Covid 19 and subsequent lockdown,” said an official of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, which manages the temple. He added the board has suffered a loss of Rs 4.05 crore.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said despite the lockdown, Puja and other rituals are being performed twice daily in the morning and the evening by a team of priests. “They are being telecast live on MH One channel,” he said.
The official said the devotees are disappointed but the priests have advised people on how and where to immerseSaankh (holy grass) and do Kanya Poojan (a ritual involving the worship of nine girls, representing the nine forms of Goddess Durga) on the culmination of the nine-day festival.
Head priest Dwarka Nath Shastri has said social distancing has to be maintained at every cost to defeat this virus. He also advised the people that in place of worshipping Kanjaks [little girls], they should worship suparis [betel nuts]. Similarly, saankh can be respectfully immersed in a utensil filled with water and then kept in flower pots.”
The pilgrimage to the cave shrine was suspended on March 18 because of the pandemic. The shrine attracts lakhs of devotees from various parts of the country and abroad throughout the year.
