Post lunar eclipse: Bhadrachalam temple reopens in Telangana, devotees take holy dip in Varanasi

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Bhadrachalam Sita Ramachandraswamy temple, located on the shores of Godavari River here reopened in the early hours of Wednesday to perform the cleansing rituals after a lunar eclipse.

The temple reopened at 5:30 am today. As per the Hindu beliefs, no religious ritual can be performed during a lunar eclipse, therefore, the Bhadrachalam temple was closed on Tuesday evening at 6 PM without conducting the daily 'sleeping ceremony' ritual.

The priests and temple staff performed the ritual of 'Samprokshanam' along with other cleansing rituals in the morning.

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Sita Ramachandraswamy temple, located in Bhadradri Kothagudem District, Telangana is dedicated to Lord Ram. It is believed that Lord Ram resided here during his exile.

South India's another revered place of religious importance, Tirupati Balaji temple situated atop Tirumala hills was re-opened after 10 hours on Wednesday morning to perform the cleansing rituals after a lunar eclipse. The temple was closed at 7 pm last evening and re-opened for cleansing rituals at 5 am this morning.

Meanwhile, thousands of devotees took a holy dip in River Ganga after the partial lunar eclipse in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, the holy ritual commenced from 4 AM today.

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Hindu Devotees here have an age-old custom of taking three holy dips whenever a solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse shows, one before the eclipse, second in the middle of the eclipse and third after the eclipse gets over. There are at least 84 bathing ghats in Varanasi but Dashashwamedh Ghat is fabled among devotees.

In India, the partial lunar eclipse occurred during the intervening night of July 16 and 17. The Moon entered penumbra on July 17 at around 12.12 am, after which the Moon entered umbra at 1.31 am. The maximum of partial lunar eclipse 2019 was witnessed at around 3 AM.