Amaravati: Kalahasthi MLA Biyyapu Madhusudan Reddy and Kalahasthi temple Executive Officer Peddiraju have called on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office and invited him to Kalahasthi temple for the Mahashivratri Brahmotsavams to be held from March 6 to 18.

Vedic scholars presented prasadam, calendar, and 'sesha vastram' to the Chief Minister and blessed him with Vedic hymns.

The festival of Maha Shivaratri is celebrated all over the country, and in different places and ways in different states. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, the Maha Shivaratri is celebrated at mainly Kalahasthi, in Sri Kalahasteshwara Temple.

The Maha Shivaratri means ‘Night of the Shiva’ and it is believed to be the day when Lord Shiva married Parvati.

The Maha Shivaratri festival is celebrated in Andhra Pradesh when pilgrims go all the way to Kalahasthi and Srisailam to visit the temples there. There is a strict fast observed throughout the day. Throughout the night, the Shiva Lingam is worshipped by washing it every three hours with milk, curd, honey, rose water, etc with the holy chant of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ chanted in the background with devotion and concentration.