Sendhwa (Madhya Pradesh): On the occasion of Nag Panchami, on Friday, a massive crowd of devotees is expected to gather in Nagalwadi, where a 5-day fair will be held.
The district administration and the temple committee have made elaborate arrangements for the fair, which is expected to attract over 5 lakh devotees from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The Bhilat Dev Temple, the main attraction of the fair, will be decorated at 1 pm and Maha Aarti will be performed at 4 am. Mahaprasadi will be distributed from 7 am.
The temple management committee has requested devotees to park their vehicles at designated places only. CCTV cameras have been installed in the fairground and ghat section, including Shikhar Dham, to monitor the crowd.
Barricades have been put up on all main roads and vehicles going to Shikhar Dham have been banned from Friday.
The temple committee has deployed volunteers along with the police to ensure convenient darshan arrangements for devotees. The doors of the temple will remain open for 48 hours on Nag Panchami, with devotees entering from the left side and exiting from the right side.
Indore divisional commissioner Deepak Singh inspected the arrangements at Bhilat Dev Temple on Wednesday and discussed the fair preparations with the temple committee members. He also had a darshan of Bhilat Dev and suggested that a film be made to showcase the history of Baba, which will be screened during the fair.
To ensure the comfort of devotees, water tankers will be kept on the fair premises, and sanitation workers will be deployed to keep the area clean. Electricity arrangements will be made through the Mela Utsav Samiti, and temporary transformers will be installed by the Electricity Board.
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Four ambulances will be stationed at different locations and a temporary hospital will be set up at Saint Shri Siyaram Baba Bhakt Niwas in Shikhar Dham.
According to legend, Bhilat Dev was born 853 years ago in a Gawli family in Harda district. His parents, Medabai and Namdev, were devotees of Lord Shiva and they did a severe penance to have a child. Bhilat Dev is worshipped as the snake god and kinnars (eunuchs) do not stay overnight in the village, as per a centuries-old tradition.
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