First Monday of Shravan: Huge crowds descend on MP's Mahakaleshwar Temple

After the barricade broke, several people tried to run towards the main deity but thankfully there was no untoward incident, the temples assistant administrator Moolchand Joonwal told PTI.Due to it being the first Monday of the holy month of Shravan, people were allowed to stand in queues for darshan apart from pre-booking.

A large number of people gathered at the renowned Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Monday, the first one in the holy month of Shravan, despite coronavirus restrictions and the rush among devotees to enter for prayers led to one of the barricade gates getting damaged, an official said.

A video of the incident went viral on social media.

''At around 8:30am, a large number of people tried to enter for darshan and in the process broke the barricade at gate number four of the temple complex. After the barricade broke, several people tried to run towards the main deity but thankfully there was no untoward incident,'' the temple's assistant administrator Moolchand Joonwal told PTI.

''Due to it being the first Monday of the holy month of Shravan, people were allowed to stand in queues for darshan apart from pre-booking. However, the crowd that turned up was much larger than what we expected,'' he said.

Eye witnesses said social distancing and other COVID-19 norms were violated as people queued up outside the temple.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)