The state police began gathering information on devotee arrivals for the first time during the yearly Hindu festival of Navratri, which is held in honor of the goddess Durga.

More than 12.72 lakh worshippers visited Himachal’s main temples during Navratri, providing much-needed support to the state’s tourism sector, which had suffered greatly as a result of the monsoon calamity, according to police data.

The state police began gathering information on devotee arrivals for the first time during the yearly Hindu festival of Navratri, which honors the goddess Durga, a manifestation of the ultimate goddess Adi Parashakti. The Navratri celebrations this year took place from October 15 to October 23.

Himachal has numerous temples to Goddess Durga, but it also has four “shaktipeethas”: Naina Devi, Chintpurni, Jawalaji, and Bajreshwari Devi.

During Navratri, visitors come to these temples from all around the nation, but especially from the northern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Uttarakhand.

According to police records, the Naina Devi temple in the Bilaspur district saw the largest flood of devotees, numbering 3.34 lakh. The temple is the richest shrine in the state and is situated close to the border with Punjab.

In the meantime, 1.37 lakh devotees prayed at Chintapurni in Una district, and around 2.91 lakh visited Mata Bala Sundari in Sirmaur district.

1.37 lakh, 1.36 lakh, and 1.11 lakh devotees visited Kangra’s three principal temples honoring Goddess Durga—Jwalaji, Bajreshwari Devi, and Chamunda—during the nine-day celebration. The Kangra temple dedicated to Baglamukhi was visited by about 31,000 worshippers.

In the Shimla district, there were also 44,400 devotees who attended the Hatkoti temple, 28,700 Tara Devi, and 25,200 Kalibari temple.

Police Director General According to Sanjay Kundu, during the holiday season, the state police registered the entry of about one lakh cars at these temples. He continued by saying that appropriate measures had been taken to guarantee the security of followers as well as the control of traffic and law and order.

He emphasized that the celebrations went off without a hitch throughout the state, saying that “enough force from Indian Reserve Battalions (IRBs) along with the district police had been deployed in all the shrines.”

Source- Hindustan times