Devotees carry ‘Irumudi’, have darshana of Datta Paduke

Scores of devotees from across the state had a darshana of Datta Paduke at Sri Gurudattatreya Bababudan Swamy Dargah at Inam Datta Peetha on account of Datta Jayanti on Saturday.

Devotees wearing dattamala had left for the peetha in the morning carrying ‘Irumudi.’ After taking a dip at the Honnammana Halla, they moved towards Datta Peetha.

The district administration had allowed the darshana of the Datta Paduke from morning till evening. The density of vehicles and devotees was less this year. The ‘Bhagavadwaja’ too was seen all over.

VHP and Bajrang Dal organised ‘Ganapathi Homa’, ‘Dattahoma’, ‘Havana’, in a hall near the Datta Peetha and later offered prayers to Anasooyadevi, Athrimuni ad Gurudattatreya.

The devotees were served with pulav, curd rice and prasadam.

The district administration strengthened security to maintain law and order near the Datta Peetha. It arranged for parking space, drinking water, toilets and other facilities to the devotees.

Even the road leading to the Peetha was widened to facilitate two-way traffic. As a result, there was no traffic congestion en route the Peetha.

The police were on vigil and had installed CCTV cameras on strategic locations. IGP (Western range) Arun Chakravarthy, Superintendent Harish Pande and Deputy Commissioner M K Srirangaiah had camped at the Datta Peetha, monitoring the security.

As a precautionary measure, the shops in the villages en route the hill range remained closed.