Raaskreeda Festival celebrated at Mulher

Nashik, Oct 27 (UNI) Over 90,000 devotees from across the country attended the ''Raaskreeda Festival'' celebrations at Mulher town of today Baglan taluka in this district.

''Raaschakra'', a 25-foot-radius circle decorated with banana leaves and marigold flowers, was put up on the Raas Stambha (a pole which holds the Raaschakra) at around 1803 hrs yesterday.

Earlier, a photograph of Swami Uddhav Maharaj was unveiled by Baglan MLA Sanjay Chavan. Speaking on the occasion, the MLA assured that Rs 25 lakh would be provided for developing Mulher as a pilgrimage centre.

The age-old festival was supposed to have been started by Mulher king Mayurdwaja and later rejuvenated in 1640 by Kashiraj Maharaj who was the religious teacher of Swami Uddhav Maharaj.

The ''Raaschakra'' symbolises the decorated ''mandal'' in Vrindavan where Lord Krishna played ''Raaskreeda'' with Gopis.

Amid the celebrations, a procession was also taken out and bhajans were sung throughout the night.

The ''Rasschakra'' was taken down from the ''Rass Sthamba'' at around 0830 hours today to mark the end of the festival. The festival was organised under the guidance of Dr Raghunath Maharaj Pandit, the 13th descendent of Swami Uddhav Maharaj.

UNI