Over 200 deities to gather for Mandi Shivratri

HILL POST
By HP Bureau

INDIA - The Festival of Mahashivratri is marked in a unique way in this Himachal Pradesh town, popularly known as Chhoti Kashi, as it sees a congregation of over 200 deities from hundreds of village temples. The celebrations date back to 1526 when this town was founded during the rule of Ajbar Sen. He had ‘invited’ all the local deities to mark the founding of the new town. Since then, the assembly of deities from hundreds of village temples during Mahashivratri has become a tradition. After the rule of princely states came to an end, the district administration took over the task of inviting the gods and goddesses. This year’s celebrations will be held from Feb 21 to 27 (See More: WSJ). In fact the festivities begin in Mandi when they come to an end in the rest of the country where Mahashivratri was celebrated Monday. [link]