Navatri celebrations, in distance mode

Mar 24, 2020, 04.09 AM IST

New Delhi: With the capital in complete lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, the faithful will not, as usual, gather at temples when the Navratri festival begins on Wednesday. The major city temples instead are prepping to offer Delhiites the novelty of participating in the aarti and having a darshan from the safety of their homes. This is one win for technology over the virus’ ground assault.

Dedicated to Goddess Aadi Shakti, the Jhandewalan temple near Karol Bagh is among the oldest in Delhi and attracts lakhs of people during the nine-day Navratri period. It has made extensive arrangements to deter people from congregating there. “We have informed everyone besides putting up huge banners on all four sides of the temple warning of a closure till the next update,” said Sandeep Kumar, the temple spokesperson. “Devotees should worship Devi Maa in their own homes.”

But that will not deprive worshippers of participation in the pujas. Kumar elaborated, “The aarti of Devi Aadi Shakti will be live streamed on YouTube as Jhandewalan Devi Mandir Live Aarti. While the 4am morning aarti and the7pm evening aarti will be available live on all nine days, we have made arrangements to have a 24-hour live session on the auspicious day of Ashtami.”

Authorities at south Delhi’s Kalkaji Mandir have decided to appeal to devotees to carry out the Navratri rituals in their houses. Lokesh Bharadwaj, general secretary of the Shri Kalkaji Mandir Prabandhak Sudhar Samiti, said the pooja-archana-sringar will be carried out by the temple priests, but the lakhs who came to the shrine to take jyoti will be urged not to venture to the shrine this year.

Bharadwaj said that a meeting between committee members and the temple high priest will decide whether the proceedings will be streamed live. Perhaps for the first time in the history, there will neither be langars or bhandaras nor people thronging the temples. Jai Prakash, chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee, said anyone wishing to organise a bhandara should instead have a “bhandaras of soaps and hand sanitisers” for poor people as a service to Devi Maa.

The Chhatarpur Temple has been closed from March 21, and the shrine management has made arrangements for the live streaming of morning and evening aarti on the temple website.