Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday visited Chamundi Hills here and offered prayers to Goddess Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of Mysuru. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, and Karnataka BJP President B Y Vijeayendra were among those who accompanied him.
Shah offered prayers to Lord Ganesh ahead of worshipping Chamundeshwari, who is also regarded as “Naada Devate” (state deity), in the presence of priests chanting Sanskrit hymns, official sources said. He took a ‘pradakshina’ (circumambulating in a clockwise direction) of the shrine, after offering prayers.
The Goddess known as ‘Chamundi’ or ‘Durga’ is the fierce form of ‘Shakti’, and is the slayer of demons, ‘Chanda’ and ‘Munda’ and also ‘Mahishasura’, the buffalo-headed monster. Elaborate security arrangements were made around the temple and the route leading to it from the city, for the Home Minister’s visit.
The over 1,000 years old temple was a small shrine initially and assumed importance over the centuries, becoming a major place of worship, officials said. It assumed significance after the Mysuru Maharajas, the Wodeyars, came to power in 1399 AD, and were great devotees and worshippers of Chamundeswari, who became their home deity and rose to religious prominence, they said.
Shah, who arrived in this “palace city” during the early hours on Sunday, earlier in the day visited Sutturu near here to attend Sutturu Jathra (fair). Later in the day, he is scheduled to take part in meetings with state BJP core committee members and leaders of the party’s Mysuru cluster.
The meetings gain significance ahead of the parliamentary elections this year. The BJP and JD(S) have formed an alliance and decided to fight the Lok Sabha polls together in Karnataka. Seat sharing talks are on between the two parties.
The BJP had won 26 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, including Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent supported by the party from Mandya, in the 2019 polls. The Congress and the JD(S) had secured one seat each.
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