Hyderabad: Rakhi festival at Chilkur Balaji sets a new trend

HYDERABAD: ‘Divine threads’ of various hues adorned the wrists of boys and girls at the famous Chilkur Balaji temple on Raksha Bandhan on Sunday. In a unique gesture, the temple authorities organised Raksha Bandhan and encouraged devotees to tie Rakhis to foster the divine relationship of sisters and brothers.

The presiding deity of Chilkur temple is famous as ‘Visa God’, as those seeking visas for the US emerge successful from interviews at the US consulate.

Girls tied Rakhis to boys on the temple premises and women devotees too tied Rakhis to men offering prayers at the temple. Hundreds of people participated in the grand event. “The decision of temple authorities is highly welcome. In this fast paced life, there is little time for family bonding. By organising the event, the temple authorities want to foster the bond between a sister and a brother,” a devotee told TOI.

Chilkur temple is perhaps the only temple in the city that has ever organised Raksha Bandhan celebrations on its premises. Several devotees felt that Raksha Bandhan should be celebrated at other temples across India.

Before distributing the sacred threads, the temple authorities performed a ritual to invoke the Sun God and other deities including Mahalakshmi and Narasimha. The preferred colour of Rakhis was yellow, as it signifies golden protection (Kavacham). The celebrations began at 11am. The temple ritual was supervised by chief priests MV Soundararajan and CS Gopalakrishna.

Soundararajan said this festival will take away the negative thoughts from the society. The temple authorities also distributed Raksha threads as prasadam to girls of Devanar School of the Blind and girls of

Manikonda

government primary school.