PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The portals of Tritiya Kedar- Tungnath were ceremoniously closed to the public for the winter at 11:30 AM on Thursday. According to officials of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) more than 1.5 lakh people visited Tungnath during the Yatra period this year.
With the closure of the main shrine, the Chal Vigrah Doli of the lord departed for its first stop- Chopta, on its way to its winter abode in Makkumath. The temple was decorated with flowers with more than 500 devotees present on the occasion.
The portals of the temple were earlier opened for devotees who were let in after the daily ritual worship of the lord in the morning. The ritual for closing the temple began at 10:30 AM in the presence of BKTC chief executive officer Vijay Prasad Thapliyal. The Chal Vigrah Doli of the lord was carried to the sounds of Dhol-Nagada.
The BKTC chairman Hemant Dwivedi said that more than 1.5 lakh people had visited Tungnath this year during the Yatra period. The committee will also encourage devotees to pay obeisance to Bhagwan Tungnath at his winter abode in Markateshwar Mandir in Makkumath, he added.
