Scores of devotees on Monday thronged various temples across the city including Birla Mandir, Chhatarpur Mandir, ISKCON temple and other religious places to pay obeisance on the occasion of Janmashtami festival, which marks the birth of Lord Shri Krishna, and is celebrated with great religious fervour and enthusiasm.

Small children dressed as Radha Krishna were seen visiting temples with their parents, while cultural programmes were also organised on the occasion and various places to celebrate the spirit of the festival.

Temples, big or small were decked with flowers and beautiful lighting and different kinds of decorations across the city in view of the festival, while police have made proper arrangements so that the entire festivities go smoothly and without any untoward incident.

A shobha yatra was also organised with beautiful jhankies (tableaux) by the Birla Mandir in view of the festival.

Police had made elaborate arrangements and also issued traffic advisories in view of the festivities, for smooth transition.

BJP MP from New Delhi Bansuri Swaraj also joined Janmashtami celebrations at the iconic Birla Mandir, Mandir Marg and ISKCON temple at East of Kailash.

Swaraj also extended greetings on the occasion to all and also prayed for everyone’s well being.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and several other leaders also joined celebrations at the various places across the city.

“Lord Shri Krishna considered good deeds as supreme, gave teachings for human upliftment and inspired by that, BJP workers are determined to serve humanity,”said Sachdeva.

Janmashtmi Melas have been organised across the city at various locations where food stalls, joy rides and many other stalls have been set up along with tableaux depicting different facets of Lord Krishna’s life and his teachings.

Many group housing societies across the Delhi- NCR region also organised events on the occasion with participation of the residents coming together to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna.

Delhi Mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi visited ISKCON temple in Dwarka sub- city on the occasion to offer prayers to Lord Shri Krishna.

She extended best wishes to everyone on Krishna Janmashtami and wished that God’s blessings remain on everyone and happiness and prosperity come to everyone’s home.

Janmashtmi is an important festival for the Hindus and celebrations include recitation of religious texts, enactments of Lord Shri Krishna’s life and its different phases as per the religious texts and records.

Singing of bhajans takes place till midnight, when he was born, while people also observe a day long fast, and usually break it at midnight.