ONI Bureau: Amid chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev‘ and ‘Bum Bum Bholey‘, thousands of devotees throng Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar and Shiva temples across Odisha today to offer prayers on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.
In other parts of Odisha including Gupteswar (Koraput), Kapilas (Dhenkanal), Dhabaleswar (Cuttack), Sri Lokanath (Puri), Harishankar (Balangir), Akhandalamani (Bhadrak) and Gokarneswar (Ganjam) devotees offered pujas at shrines with religious fervour.
All the Shiva shrines drew large crowds with devotees seen standing in queues to offer prayers to God Shiva on the auspicious occasion of Shivaratri also known as jagara.