As a precautionary measure, organisers kept volunteers at the entrance of the celebration venues to keep out people suffering from flu-related symptoms.

Specially appealing to people not to bring children to the venues, the mandals kept medical teams and ambulances at all venues.

While local organisations celebrated the day with gusto, the bigger groups who have mega budgets stayed away.

The state's main opposition party Shiv Sena, for instance, had announced that it would celebrate Janmashtami but minus the 'dahi-handi' ritual.

Party executive president Uddhav Thackeray, who had met Mayor Shubha Raul, had appealed to all people to only have the puja.

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had issued a similar appeal and also asked celebrities, especially television and film stars, to stay away from the events.

Mumbai's 'dahi-handi' celebrations are massive crowd-pullers, with money and some fame too for the victorious 'Govinda' who breaks the earthen pot.

The festival usually has various sideshows, cultural events, and even fashion parades and talent contests, all attracting huge sponsorships, but all these are missing this year.

Maharashtra has been the worst hit by H1N1 with 16 of the 21 deaths reported in the country from the state -- of these, Pune counts for 13, Mumbai two and Nashik one.