Devotional

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), June 2 (IANS) The countdown to Maha Kumbh 2025 has officially begun with a hoarding announcing the dates of the main bathing festivals.

The hoarding has been put up near Hotel Rahi Ilavart premises outside the office of the state tourism department in Prayagraj.

According to a senior state tourism department official, the mega religious fair will be a 45-day event.

The official further said that the three 'Shahi Snas' will be held within the first 21 days of the fair itself.

Notably, the bathing festivals witness seers and saints of the 13 recognised ancient Hindu monastic orders of the country called 'Akharas'.

They arrive on the banks of the holy confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati in a royal procession attracting thousands of pilgrims and tourists from across the globe.

D.P. Singh, senior manager, Hotel Ilavart Rahi, said, "This hoarding has been put up by the hotel administration. The aim is to ensure as much publicity as possible for Maha Kumbh-2025 to attract people from across the world to be a part of this unique and most revered event. The dates of the bathing festivals would help pilgrims and tourists to better plan their visits."

Maha Kumbh 2025 is written in bold at the top of the hoarding. It is followed by a description that says 'The World's Largest Spiritual Gathering'.

The hoarding further mentions the bathing dates of Maha Kumbh-2025. Soon, such hoardings would be put up across the length and breadth of the country, said officials.

In 2025, the fair will kick-start with the bathing festival of Paush Purnima on January 13, 2025, followed by 'Makar Sankranti' Shahi Snan on January 14 and the Mauni Amavasya bathing festival on January 29.

The bathing festival of 'Basant Panchami', which would be the third and the final Shahi Snan of this fair, will take place on February 3, 2025.

The hoarding also specifies that 'Achala Saptami' bathing will take place on February 4, and 'Maghi Purnima' snan on February 12.

The last official bathing festival of Maha Shivratri would take place on February 26.

Tourism department officials conceded that this is for the first time, the promotion of the religious fair has begun many months in advance through the hoarding that sports a majestic photograph.

--IANS
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Mumbai, April 3 (IANS) Ayodhya's Rishi Singh, the fans of whose Arijit Singh-type voice and singing style include star cricketer Virat Kohli, was named the winner of 'Indian Idol 13' late on Sunday night.

A favourite right from the start, Rishi takes home a cheque of Rs 25 lakh and a car as well. Debasmita Roy and Chirag Kotwal are the first and second runners-up. Others who made it to the grand finale show were Sonakshi Kar, Shivam Singh, and Bidipta Chakravarty.

The popular reality show was judged by Himesh Reshammiya, Vishal Dadlani, and Neha Kakkar.

One of the highlights of the show was Rishi narrating the story of how his parents had adopted him. Otherwise, as he put, "Main kahin sadh raha hota, main kahin mar raha hota (I would have been rotting away somewhere, or maybe dying)."

Rishi said he had come to know about his past as recently as the Theatre Round of the reality show. That is when his parents shared with him his life's biggest truth. "Without them, I know I wouldn't have been here. They're like God to me," a grateful Rishi had shared with the world.

Today, out of the just 255 people whom Virat Kohli follows on social media, Rishi Singh is one. Indeed, his parents gave him the life he wouldn't have even dreamt of had he not been adopted by them.

--IANS
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Varanasi (UP), March 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, gifted 28 projects worth Rs 1,780 crore to his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.

The projects include a ropeway that will ease traffic congestion and other infrastructure projects including ATC tower at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, 2 MW solar power plant at water works premises, Bhelupur; 800 KW solar power plant at Konia Pumping Station; new Community Health Centre at Sarnath; infrastructure improvement of Industrial estate at Chandpur and rejuvenation of temples of Kedareshwar, Vishweshwar and Omkareshwar Khand Parikrama.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that Varanasi had emerged as a new tourist destination with increased air connectivity.

He said that the tourist traffic had increased in the past few years due to availability of better facilities in the holy city.

He said that the people of Varanasi were equally responsible for rapid development because of their cooperation.

"Today, Varanasi is a hub for tourism and the local economy is also booming. The economy of eastern Uttar Pradesh is also benefitting because exports have increased," he said.

He said that the Integrated Pack House would benefit farmers of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The facility, to be the third such one in the state, will be used for the storage and packaging of vegetables and fruits, and to boost agricultural exports from the region.

The pack house was built on a 4,461 square feet area in Karkhiyaon at Rs 15.78 crore.

It is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment with the aim to ramp up the supply of Banarasi langra mango, cauliflower, green chilli and tomato, which are grown in abundance in eastern UP, to Japan, Australia, Korea and Europe.


--IANS
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Jaipur, March 7 (IANS) After showing her strength during her birthday celebrations in Salasar Temple in Rajasthan, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Monday went to famous Govind Dev Temple here and sprinkled 'gulal' on devotees assembled there.

She was accompanied by her son MP Dushyant Singh and Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra.

She also paid obeisance at a Gurudwara located near the temple and "wished for the prosperity of the state". On the occasion, Raje said: "The colours of Holi conveys the blessings of God; and people from all walks of life bow down before God together in the same colour and love."

--IANS
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Mumbai, Feb 16 (IANS) Playback singer Jubin Nautiyal, who is known for belting out hit numbers such as 'Lut Gaye', 'Raataan Lambiyan', 'Zindagi Kuch Toh Bata' and others, released a new track titled 'Mere Bhole Nath' on Thursday.

The song is a devotional track and is an ode to Lord Shiva.

The music video of the song takes the viewer on an emotional ride of an underprivileged boy. The music of the track is given by Jubin's frequent collaborator Payal Dev with lyrics furnished by Vishal Bagh.

Jubin Nautiyal said, "Since Maha Shivratri is around the corner, I am really happy to release this song devoted to Lord Shiva. I hope the listeners feel the devotion and peace of mind as they remember Lord Shiva through this song. "

Payal Dev, who gave music for this song, said, "Since the song is for Lord Shiva, it's very soothing when you listen to it. I am really glad to have worked on this song especially for Maha Shivratri."

Produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-Series, 'Mere Bhole Nath is now out on T-Series' YouTube channel.

--IANS
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Prayagraj, Jan 19 (IANS) For the first time, over 100 police personnel will wear body cameras on Saturday for the Mauni Amavasya 'snan' (bath) in the ongoing Magh Mela.

The police personnel with body-cams will be mainly deployed on Magh Mela campus, Prayagraj railway junction and Civil Lines bus stand for better crowd and traffic management since maximum number of devotees are expected on Mauni Amavasya.

Around 2 crore devotees are expected to take a dip in Sangam on Mauni Amavasya, considered auspicious by Hindus.

According to official sources, 10 cops each armed with body-worn cameras will be stationed at bus station and railway junction, the rest 80 will be deployed at static locations of Magh Mela including entry and exit points.

These cameras will be connected to ICCC (integrated command & control centre) and senior cops sitting there will be monitoring the crowd, doing crowd analytics as well as note behavioural changes among policemen and visitors.

These body-worn cameras have internet connectivity through SIM cards. With the help of these body-worn cameras, mela cops would also be able to cover black spots where CCTV cameras are not installed.

Commissioner of police Ramit Sharma said, "This is the first time when cops armed with body-worn cameras will be deployed at Magh Mela, Prayagraj railway junction and Civil Lines bus stand that would be helpful for better crowd and traffic management during Mauni Amavasya snan. These body-worn cameras are helpful for high quality audio and video recording, digitization of faces, high-level tracking and monitoring and meta data generation (metadata contains personal and transactional information of the user, device and the movements taking place with data related to the date, time, duration and location of the recorded activities."

Moreover, while facing network congestion or poor connectivity, the facility of docking stations in each police circle will help cops to export videos or data collected to ICCC server.

--IANS
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Ayodhya, Dec 18 (IANS) To give it a distinct identity, the temple town of Ayodhya will soon have a uniform colour coding for various establishments.

The Ayodhya Development Authority is finalising the scheme of colours to be used in buildings of different nature.

There will be a dedicated colour each for commercial, residential, religious and historical buildings.

The colour of the temples leading to Ram Janmabhoomi site will be saffron.

There will be a uniformity of colour in different buildings and pavements in their vicinity.

Ayodhya Development Authority vice-chairman Vishal Singh said, "There will be different types of colour choices for commercial, residential, religious and for the buildings of archaeological importance. We are yet to finalise which shades of colours to be painted on which type of buildings. However, the colour of the temples leading to the Ram Janmabhoomi site will be saffron."

According to the sources, other than the temples on the Ram Mandir way, all the private buildings - from Saadatganj area of the Faizabad city to the banks of Saryu - will also have the same colour.

Besides, agencies involved in the construction of the grand Ram temple are taking special cognisance of the security of Ram Janmabhoomi complex. A double-layer security wall with a 50-metre foundation will ensure permanent security for the temple, said Anil Mishra, member of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

--IANS
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London, Dec 11 (IANS) The UK representative of fugitive Hindu guru Nithyananda had reportedly attended a 'glamorous' Diwali party at the House of Lords earlier this year, after being invited by two senior Conservatives.

Atmadaya, the British representative for the controversial guru known as Nithyananda, was invited to the function by the MP Bob Blackman and the peer Rami Ranger, the Observer reported. Nithyananda's organisation also took out a full-page advertisement in an accompanying brochure which was handed out to attendees.

Some attendees were upset at the profile given to the organisation, given that Nithyananda fled India in 2019 while facing multiple charges of abducting children and one of raping a follower. He has since claimed to have set up his own sovereign island state known as the "Republic of Kailaasa", the report said.

Nithyananda has built up a huge following in India, where he ran more than a dozen temples and ashrams. He made extravagant claims about his supernatural abilities, including being able to delay the sunrise, see through walls, cure children of blindness and make cows talk.

But former followers have also made serious allegations about sexual exploitation and coercive behaviour.

One of his former disciples told the Observer she had been pressurised into having a sexual relationship with Nithyananda, and that followers were threatened with forced labour if they did not comply with his wishes.

She said: "We knew that we would be shunned by the whole community if we didn't do what he wanted, or that worse, we would be made to do hard labour in the hot desert outside Bangalore."

The former disciple said she had also been told by children that they were being beaten in the organisation's homes.

Nithyananda has denied the accusations against him. Richard Rogers, Nithyananda's UK-based lawyer, told the Observer: "The available evidence suggests that the (known) pending criminal allegations against the applicant in India are part of a broader campaign of religious persecution targeting the applicant, which is rooted in religious intolerance and based (in whole or large part) on falsified evidence."

Rogers would not comment on the specific allegations made by Landry. But he added: "The allegations of alleged misconduct that I have looked into (in any depth), turned out to be based on evidence that is unreliable at best, and in some cases clearly manipulated or falsified."

The Hindu Forum of Britain however stood by the invitation. Trupti Patel, the group's president, said: "We do not discriminate; each entity has their own following. Social media/internet hype and unsubstantiated allegations against UK-registered charities cannot stop any two organisations working together."

Atmadaya issued a statement in which she said the allegations against Nithyananda "are false and part of a campaign of religious persecution by anti-Hindu extremist elements of the government in India", the Observer reported.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Nov 22 (IANS) The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has started preparing for the Maha Kumbh, scheduled to be held in Prayagraj in 2025.

To chalk out the outline of the Maha Kumbh 2025, a high-level meeting will be held in Prayagraj on Thursday.

The Chief Minister is going to preside over the meeting along with senior officials of his office, chief secretary and heads of at least eight to 10 other departments who will play a crucial role in making the religious event successful.

According to the official spokesman, Yogi will go through the preliminary presentation during the meeting and give his inputs.

A basic blueprint of the event has been prepared.

"The scale and size of the event will be extremely grand. We are going to bring all the options on the table to make the event historic," said a state government spokesman.

Senior government officials and heads of the public works, power, irrigation, urban development, health, home, housing and urban planning, transport, tourism, information among other departments, are expected to participate in the high-level meeting to note down the issues that require inter-department coordination and collaboration.

A senior officer said that help from the research students pursuing courses in civil engineering, environment, sustainable development and design will be taken during the preparation stages next year in order to conduct the event in a cost-effective manner with quality material.

--IANS
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Varanasi, Oct 30 (IANS) After 'Deepotsav' in Ayodhya, it is now time for 'Dev Deepawali' on the ghats of Varanasi.

The 'Dev Deepawali' festival, this year, will be special since President Draupadi Murmu will grace the occasion.

The festival falls on the full moon of the Hindu month of Kartika (November - December) and takes place 15 days after Diwali.

The steps of all the ghats on the riverfront of the Ganges River, from Ravidas Ghat at the southern end to Rajghat, are lit with more than a million earthen lamps (diyas) in honour of Ganga River, and its presiding goddess.

Mythologically, the gods are believed to descend to earth to bathe in the Ganges on this day. The festival is also observed as Tripura Purnima Snan.

During Dev Deepawali, houses are decorated with oil lamps and coloured designs on their front doors. Firecrackers are burst at night, processions of decorated deities are taken out into the streets of Varanasi, and oil lamps are set afloat on the river.

Owing to the significance and the growing socio-cultural popularity of this festival, it has now also come to be celebrated in nearby districts such as Mirzapur.

'Dev Deepawali' is also a major tourist event and people from all over the world come to see this world-famous festival. This year the Dev Deepawali festival will be celebrated on November 7.

State ministers Ravindra Jaiswal, Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu and MLA Saurabh Srivastava along with the divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma, municipal commissioner Pranay Singh and other officers have inspected the entire riverfront.

The work of removing the silt deposited on the steps of the ghat due to floods is being done on a war footing by the Varanasi Municipal Corporation.

"But since it is not possible to completely remove the silt from the Ghats till Dev Deepawali, it has been decided that wherever suitable space is available, a wide drain should be made in the soil near the stairs and connected with the water of the Ganga to bring the water of Ganga near the steps of the ghat, and make it accessible for worship and 'deepdaan'," said an official.

--IANS
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