Devotees flock to temples to celebrate Holi

New Delhi: People thronged to temples on Monday morning to offer prayers on the auspicious occasion of Holika Dahan, which is celebrated with much gusto in several parts of the country.

In Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, a sea of devotees flocked to the Banke Bihari Temple dedicated to Lord Krishna to celebrate. Mathura holds a long history and significance of the festival of Holi.

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna visited his beloved Radha’s town Barsana from Nandgaon in Mathura to celebrate the festival with her. Devotees in large numbers were seen in Mathura’s temples with sweets and colours in their hands.

While devotees stood in queues to get a glimpse of the deity, priests at the temple were seen playfully throwing colours and using water guns on those gathered.

Amid the festivities, the outbreak of coronavirus was a cause of concern. In Amritsar’s Shiwala Temple, people replaced colours with flowers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Devotees in the temple were seen offering flowers to the Shivlinga. “Today the festival of Holi is being celebrated with great reverence with flowers due to coronavirus,” a devotee, Girish Sharma told ANI.

“People are scared about the coronavirus, which is why we are only using flowers to ensure that we don’t play Holi with colours,” he added.

The occasion was also used to raise awareness about COVID-19. Posters were also put up in and around the temple premises urging people to celebrate the festival with flowers and give up on colour-based colours.