301 weddings at Bageshwar Dham on Mahashivratri:Tricolour lighting to take place; 12 lakh pilgrims likely to attend

Preparations for the marriage ceremony of 301 couples to be held on February 15, Mahashivratri, at Bageshwar Dham in Khajuraho are in the final stages. Cultural nights will be held for three days from February 12. Around 10 to 12 lakh devotees are expected to come during these days, so food arrangements are being made for that many people. Rabri is being brought from Nagpur and rasgullas from Rajasthan for the guests. The event arrangements are spread across 100 acres. There will be buffet arrangements for the wedding parties. Following the pattern of last year’s Mahakumbh in Allahabad, 11 ceremonial gates have also been constructed. Chief Ministers from six states, the Governor of Madhya Pradesh, foreign guests, celebrities and athletes will attend the main event. Dainik Bhaskar team reached Bageshwar Dham to review the wedding preparations. Decorations visible from two kilometers away The sun hasn’t risen yet early in the morning. As it was told that Bageshwardham would be decorated in tricolor theme for the wedding. Its glimpse starts appearing from five kilometers away from the dham. The lighting has been done in tricolor theme on both sides of the road. In a while, we reached in front of the main temple of the dham. Aarti is going on here. There is also a crowd of devotees who have come from far and wide for darshan. Work is going on 24 hours at the place where the ceremony is to be held. Trucks loaded with materials are arriving. Volunteers are busy getting the materials unloaded at the right place. Some have tent materials, while others have food and beverages. Craftsmen from Kolkata are setting up colorful umbrella-like tents. Other people are tightening pipes for the dome. Masons are building large ovens for preparing food for about six hundred thousand people. Nitendra Choubey, the caretaker managing this wedding venue, says that four days are left and all work will be completed on time. Preparations in 5 pictures From Pandit Pradeep Mishra to Morari Bapu will come Nitendra says – Earlier 300 daughters were to be married, but now this number has become 301. Preparations are being made accordingly. Chief Ministers from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi are coming to bless the brides. MP Governor Mangubhai Patel is coming on February 12 for the groundbreaking ceremony of Gurukulum. Different people will come on all three days from February 13 to 15. Sant Rajendra Das, Indresh Kumar, Aniruddhacharya, Pundarik Maharaj, Morari Bapu, Baba Ramdev, Pandit Pradeep Mishra and Ramesh Bhai Ojha have confirmed their attendance. Many other saints will also come, but their dates are not fixed yet. Some athletes are also coming – Umesh Yadav and Shikhar Dhawan have confirmed their attendance. 1500 foreign devotees will also come Dhirendra Gaur, the main organizer of the wedding ceremony, says that yellow rice is being distributed in nearby villages. About 1500 devotees will come from abroad. Around 100 devotees have already arrived. Guru brothers have started coming from Dubai, Nepal, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand and London. MLAs from Australia and New Zealand are also coming. An estimated 10 to 12 lakh people are expected to arrive in three days. Extensive arrangements need to be made. In India, there are 75 registered service organizations from the Dham in different places. About 12 thousand members from these organizations are coming to manage the wedding arrangements. They will be assigned different duties. Pandit Dhirendra Shastri likes Matar Paneer Bhandara in-charge Kapil Sahu has the responsibility of the storage. The wedding feast will be held in three places around the wedding pavilion. One for the wedding party and hosts, second for the service volunteers. And third – for the devotees coming to the wedding. Additionally, there are food and fruit arrangements at eight to ten places in the Dham. They say that Guru Dhirendra Shastri is very fond of matar-paneer, which will be specially prepared on the wedding day. This matar-paneer will be served to five visiting CMs and other VVIPs. The most special thing is that along with mal-pua, rabri from Nagpur and rasgullas from Rajasthan are being ordered for millions of guests. Temporary hospital also set up A hospital has also been set up by the administration for the event. Rajnagar BMO and Bageshwar Dham health system in-charge Avadhesh Chaturvedi said that the team will work 24 hours. 50 health workers will be on duty in three shifts. These include doctors, pharmacists, nursing staff, ward boys and dressers. The hospital will have facilities for oxygen, beds and emergency medicines. Currently, arrangements for 6 beds have been made. Two ambulances will be stationed. Three more ambulances will arrive during February 12 to 14. If condition becomes serious, patients will be referred to Chhatarpur. FD of Rs 30,000 is being given Dhirendra Gaur has been made the chief organizer of the ceremony. This time, the newlyweds are not being given bikes and home flour mills. Dhirendra Gaur says that these two gifts were increasing the expenses of the new family, so this time each couple is being given a fixed deposit (FD) of Rs 30,000. Along with this, gold clove and earrings. Along with mangalsutra, the bride is being given makeup items and household goods worth Rs 2.5 lakh.