Ghatasthapana at Tuljapur to chants of 'Aai Raja Udo Udo' as Tulja Bhavani's Navratri begins

Tuljapur: To the beat of sambal drums, traditional music and chants of 'Aai Raja Udo Udo', the ghatasthapana ritual was performed in the traditional way in the inner sanctum of the Shri Tulja Bhavani temple at noon on Sunday, October 11, marking the start of the nine-day Sharadiya Navratri festival. Temple trust president and collector Kirti Kiran Pujar and his wife performed the ritual as hosts.

By tradition, the Shete family of Tuljapur supplies the seven grains used for ghatasthapana: linseed, safflower, moong, jowar, wheat, maize and barley. The first garland of betel leaves was placed on the ghat. MLA and temple trustee Ranajagjitsinh Patil, zilla parishad president Archana Patil, municipal council president Vinod Gangane, tahsildar Maya Mane, mahants and office-bearers of the priests' associations were present. Many Bhavani jyot processions set out from the town in the previous 24 hours, and no untoward incident was reported.

Devotees have been arriving in large numbers from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ahead of the festival, and about 1.5 lakh had darshan on Saturday, October 10. Three sub-divisional police officers, 24 inspectors, 74 sub-inspectors, 1,100 police personnel and 990 home guards have been deployed, and separate parking areas have been set up on the Naldurg, Latur, Solapur and Dharashiv roads.

Devotees enter the temple by the Ghatshil Road-Bidkar lake route and leave through the Jijau Mahadwar and the Adibai Adishakti temple area. The municipal council has set up free drinking water points across the town and deployed squads for cleaning and to prevent encroachments. After Navratri, the fair will continue until Kojagiri Purnima.

Sources: Pudhari; Pudhari