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Devotees of Ayappa taking out a procession
in Berhampur .—Photo: Lingaraj Panda
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This temple has been built by the members of Lord Ayappa Temple Service Society of Berhampur.
This new temple is located near Nilakantheswar temple of Berhampur.
Hundreds of Ayappa devotees took part in the three-day long rituals. Along with the idol of Lord Ayappa, idols of other deities like Ganesha, Kartikeya, Laxmi, Saraswati and Gayatri were also ritualistically established on the premises of the new temple. It may be noted that although Ayappa devotees are not new to Odisha, yet till the eighties they were mostly from Telugu families living in south Odisha.
But during past three decades people from all communities and other parts of Odisha have started to get attracted towards the hard 41 days penance for lord Ayappa and a journey to Sabarimala. In the initial years only middle aged adults were becoming part of this penance. But now large number of youths, women and even children are becoming Ayappa devotees to bring in positive changes in their life style through the long period of pious penance. Source: The HIndu
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