Devotees celebrate Krishna Janmashtami with great enthusiasm

Mathura/Lucknow: The entire country (India) was on Thursday indulged in the celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami, the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. Like every year, the prominent occasion was grandly celebrated in Mathura city of Uttar Pradesh which is believed to be the birth place of Shri Krishna.

Janmashtami celebrations at Krishna Janmasthan Temple in Mathura

The Mathura celebration:

The celebration began with the worship of Lord Ganesha at Shri Krishna’s birth place. As soon as the clock completed its round (sharp at 2400 hours), the petals of the silver lotus (artificial) placed at the temple started opening its mouth and Lord Krishna emerged from within. Subsequently, the entire place echoed with the voices of people chanting 'Jai Shri Krishna'.

Devotees gathered at Shri Krishna’s birth place

Lord Krishna emerging from the silver lotus

The Lucknow celebration:

Alike every part of the country, the festival was also celebrated with great splendour in the City of Nawabs. Marking the prominent occasion, a special programme was held at the Police Lines which was organised by the students of Modern Police School. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Governor Ram Naik also marked their presence at the programme and watched the students giving delightful stage performances.

Janmashtami celebrations in Lucknow

Janmashtami celebrations across the country:

Krishna devotees, in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, celebrated the festival by worshipping him. Earlier in the day, people took part in processions and ‘Dahi Handis’ across the country.

In the capital city of Maharashtra, the streets were seen thronged by‘Govindas’ celebrating the ritual of ‘Dahi Handi’ in which a human pyramid is formed by the participants to reach a pot filled with buttermilk and break it. It may be mentioned that the Supreme Court last week ruled that these human pyramids could not exceed the height of 20 feet ensuring the safety of people.

In Pune’s Kothrud Baag, the Om Charitable Trust organised the one-of-its-kind all-women Dahi Handi which only had female participants. “Women do not get to participate in the Dahi Handi programmes happening across the country. Hence, it was our bid to create this platform especially and only for them. In this programme, almost 25,000 accompanied us and enjoyed the celebrations," a representative of the organisation said.

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