Less number of devotees arrive this year at Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills

The Chamundeshwari Temple on top of Chamundi Hills usually attracts a large number of devotees throughout the year, especially during the annual Dasara festival. However, this year, the footfalls are not there. The number of devotees visiting the hill shrine has dropped during the ongoing festival season. This could be because of the Cauvery agitation.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 6 October 2016.

The drop in footfalls began from the first week of September this year ever since the Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and neighboring Tamil Nadu regained momentum.
The total number of devotees visiting the temple for free darshan is estimated to be three times the number of devotees who purchase tickets. As per estimates of temple authorities, around 1.5 lakh devotees had visited the shrine during September 2015. However, the corresponding number during September this year is not more than 75,000 to 80,000.
The Chamundi Hills used to be swarming with devotees and tourists during Dasara and it has remained relatively deserted this year.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Villagers in Erode sacrifice 3000 goats to pray for rain and appease the Rain God

While many parts of the try is reeling under the onslaught of the monsoons, some villages in Erode are praying to the Rain God to bless them with showers. Therefore, in order to invoke the gods some villagers of Chinnakosanam in Gobichettipalayam taluk in Erode district conducted a special festival at Poothanachi Amman and Petrayaswamy temple.
The festival takes place once in two years and as part of the festival, a special puja was performed in which 3000 goats were sacrificed and food was served to more than 50,000 people.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 6 August 2016.

This puja is usually performed to pray to god in troubled times and, since the people are fully dependent on rains for irrigation, and since there was no appreciable downpour in the last four years, the puja was being performed. Offerings to the gods would be in the form of cash and goats along with other items of food.
The venue wore a festive look and there were a few makeshift shops. More than 1,000 men and women from the crowd participated in preparing the food for more than 50,000 devotees who had arrived from neighboring villages. The devotees chanted mantras along with the temple priest and, lunch was served to all devotees.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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