Hundreds of thousands of worshippers converged on major Shiva temples across India on 14 July, the first Monday of the Hindu month of Shravan, one of the most auspicious days of the year for devotees. Dawn services such as the traditional Bhasma Aarti at Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple drew packed congregations, while long queues formed at Delhi’s Connaught Place and Chandni Chowk shrines, and at Haridwar’s river-bank temples. Crowds were particularly heavy in eastern India. Deoghar district authorities in Jharkhand said the annual Shravan Mela, which began on 11 July, had already brought roughly 1.25 lakh visitors over its first two days and another 1.6 lakh on Sunday, with substantially larger numbers expected on Monday. District Collector Naman Priyesh Lakra said additional medical posts, water stations and traffic diversions were in place around Baba Baidyanath Dham to handle the influx. In Varanasi, police erected extra barricades and showered flower petals on devotees waiting to perform ‘jalabhishek’ at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Similar scenes were reported at Ayodhya’s Nageshwar Nath Temple, Dehradun’s Tapkeshwar Mahadev shrine and Jaipur’s Jharkhand Mahadev temple. Authorities across several states said no major incidents had been reported, though they urged pilgrims to follow crowd-control instructions as the month-long festival continues.