Vijayawada,Oct 29: The Indrakeeladri hillock acquired a red hue with hundreds of devotees of goddess Kanakadurga dressed in red clothes thronging to the temple to receive the ‘Bhavani Deeksha’ on Thursday.After taking a dip in the Krishna River and donning the sacred red robes, the devotees reached Bhavani Deeksha Mandapam near the temple, to be given the deeksha by supervisor of vedic rituals in Kanakadurga temple.Earlier in the day, rituals such as ‘Vighneswara Pooja,’ ‘Kalasa Sthapana’ and ‘Punyavachanam’ were performed in the temple indicating the beginning of the 41-day Bhavani deeksha. T
he ritual began at 7.43 am and continued for over two hours.Those who took the deeksha on Thursday would have to relinquish it on January.Sri Durga Malleswara Swamivarla Devasthanam notified that the deekshas would be given between November 20 and 24 in the temple.‘Ardha Deekshas’ were available for those who could not follow the rigorous religious practices like taking bath only with coldwater in the early hours of the day, eating limited and simple food, not wearing footwear and sleep on the floor for all the 41 days. These ‘Ardha Deekshas’ would be given in December and could be relinquished in month of January.Temple officials said that the deeksha was given to over 1,500 devotees on the first day and the number would be increased in the next three days.