Temples being decorated for Janmashtami

KANPUR: Temples are wearing a festive look for the celebration of birth anniversary of Lord Krishna famous as Janmashtami on Sunday.

Janmashtami will be celebrated on August 22. The festival is celebrated for two days. On the first day, it is celebrated in temples and next day, the celebrations are at home.

With special floral 'rangoli', the temples have recreated scenes from the life of Lord Krishna in various tableau. The devotees and temple priests will be preparing the idols of the Lord with flowers and other handicraft products.

In some temples, special skits will be held and prizes given to 'cutest' Lord Krishna to be selected child participating in the contests to become Radha and Krishna. The children will also perform 'Rasleela' and 'Krishna Leela' on the occasion.

The organisers use flowers, being the symbol of love and devotion, for decoration and preparing 'jhakis' in the temples. The flowers add more charm to the beauty of the occasion and bring sanctity to the atmosphere.

"There would be decoration with flowers. We have invited decorators from various parts of the country who would bring flowers from distant places for decoration," said a priest of ISCON temple in Bithoor.

Clothes of Radha and Krishna are brought from Mathura and Vrindavan. Since there would be a huge rush of devotees, three big screens will be set up for those outside the temple to see the 'abhishek' and 'puja', he added.

A devotee at the JK Temple said there was enthusiasm to celebrate the birthday of cutest god Krishna. Preparations are in full swing. He further said that at midnight, which was believed to be the time of birth of Lord Krishna, all the devotees would hold the earthen lamps in hands, performing 'arti' after which 'prasad' would be distributed.