Weaving cloth for God every day, that is what Pruthvi Venkateswarlu of Devanagapuri of Chirala in Andhra Pradesh state of India is doing as a part of his family’s three-generation old tradition. Pruthvi’s family is chosen to be the weavers for Lord Mallikarjuna (Lord Shiva) temple at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, which is one of the holiest pilgrim temples in India for the worshippers of Shiva. This hand woven cloth is a part of the unique annual ritual performed at the midnight of Shivratri during the auspicious Lingodbhavam ceremony. The method of weaving the cloth is itself unique. The cloth is 365-yards long and is woven with deep devotion while chanting Lord Shiva’s Panchakshari (five-syllable) mantra. The weaving is not done at a stretch. Only one yard of the cloth is woven each day to make a 365 yard-long cloth at the end of the year. The weaver has to abstain eating meat and consuming liquor all through the period. A few moments before the Lingodbhavam, the cloth is tied to the shikharam i.e.the peak of the Srisailam temple. While this is being done all lights are switched off and only oil lamps in the temple of Mallikarjuna, Bhramaramba and Nandi emit tranquil glows. As the Shivaratri is always on a new-moon day, in the blackness of the moonless night these glowing oil-flames appear charismatically beautiful. The temple’s weaver Pruthvi Venkateswarlu climbs the temple in nude and ties the holy cloth at the crest. The cloth remains hanging till the festival of Brahmotsavam. Thereafter it is brought down and cut into 365 equal pieces. These pieces, now considered sacred, are auctioned on Ugadi, the New Year day according to the Indian calendar. By then, the temple’s weaver Pruthvi Venkateswarlu would have already started weaving cloth for the next year.