Ramnavami celebrations remain dull in lockdown

JAMMU: Amidst the Coronavirus-triggered lockdown, the Ram Navami celebrations remained subdued in Jammu region on Thursday, as the administration restricted movement along river Tawi which prevented people from immersion of ‘saakh’ on the last day of the Navratras.
The festival marks the birth of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu and culmination of Chaitra Navaratri.
Due to restrictions imposed by the authorities, people stayed indoors and celebrated the occasion by performing all rituals.
They performed ‘kanjak pujan’ and distributed sweets, ‘halwa-puri’, coconut and applied ‘Tilak’ to girl child within their localities while there was no hustle bustle due to complete lockdown in view of coronavirus.
As the immersion of Saakh is part of rituals, the district administration deputed vehicles to collect saakh from every household.
“The workers of Municipal corporations collected ‘saakh’ from people in their respective areas while in some areas police vans collected the ‘Saakh’ and jointly immersed it in the River Tawi,” an official told The News Now.
A similar exercise was carried out in holy town of Katra, while in Samba district few people were seen on the banks of rivers for the saakh immersion.
Women ended their nine-day-long fast by offering special prayers on the occasion of ‘Ram Navami’.
Meanwhile, Dharmarth Trust celebrated Ram Navmi with religious fervour and great enthusiasm in the premises of historical Raghunathji Temple.
As per the rituals, the idols of Shri Ram ji, Laxman ji and Mata Sita were taken from the sanctum of Holy Raghunath Mandir and Parikarma was performed inside the temple premises due to the government restrictions. Besides, Hawan, Yagya and Aarti were also performed.
Looking into the government advisory on social distancing, the prayers were offered by only the designated Pujaris in compliance with the directives to contain coronavirus. The temple was decorated with traditional zeal and zest.

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