Itanagar: Nearly 75,000 devotees, including hundreds of sadhus from across the country, took a holy dip in Parshuram Kund in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh on the occasion of Makar Sankranti on Sunday.
Most of the pilgrims from Nepal, Manipur, Maharastra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and various parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh made a beeline to the holy site since January 13 last, Lohit deputy commissioner R K Sharma said.
Last year about 70000 pilgrims thronged the kund and took a holy dip.
This year the number of visitors was almost same as that of last year and the overall figure of the pilgrims visiting the holy kund would be about one lakh which may be completed till end of this month. However, a few vehicles carrying pilgrims are still coming in, the DC said. On the mela site, free food was provided to the pilgrims by the Parshuram Sewa Samity and Manav Utthan Seva Samity of Tinsukia in neighbouring Assam besides Border Road Organization and some other NGOs.
A free medical camp was also been organized by 25th Bn of ITBP, district medical authorities, Arunachal Pali Vidyapith, Chongkham and Arun Jyoti.
Round-the-clock volunteers to help the aged pilgrims and to control the crowd were being provided by Vivekananda Kendra and Arun Jyoti, Tezu. The district police authorities have made security arrangements and deployed adequate police and paramilitary forces. Swami Adhokshanand, the Sankaracharya of Goverdhanpeeth also visited the kund and took a holy dip. He expressed satisfaction about the arrangement and wished a peaceful life to the people.
According to the legend recorded in the Kalika Purana, Srimat Bhagawata and the Mahabharata, sage Parsurama washed away his sin of matricide in the waters of the Lohit River at Bramhakund.
Situated within the Kamlang reserve forest, the Kund is surrounded by dense forest of Ruddhraksha trees, the fruit of which is considered sacred to Hindu ascetics as well as general believers of the faith. PTI