Banks of Periyar ready for Aluva Mahashivratri

Kochi:The banks of the river Periyar are being prepared for Mahashivaratri festival. According to the Hindu religious beliefs, it is auspicious to offer bali to the departed souls on this day in the Periyar river near the Shiva temple.

The devotees are already filled in the temple premises with the offerings or the bali starting the midnight of Tuesday, exactly at 12 am on Wednesday. The devotees offer fast all through the day of the Shivaratri and stay awake till the next day evening to please the Lord.

There is a belief that Lord Shiva had conducted the Tandava dance on this day and the people pay visits to the Shiva temples and stay awake all through the night on the Shivaratri day.

In Aluva it is a festive mood with people from all walks of life and far and wide already coming up in the premises of the small temple of the banks of the Periyar. The hawkers who sell toys, sweet delicacies, and even way side palmists have thronged in numbers the temple premises.

The Periyar banks and the small Shiva temple where all the basic preparations are already over is in a festive mood. The local people are welcoming their relatives and friends who are arriving from different parts of the State as also from abroad and from other parts of the country.