Tirumala celebrates Vaikunta Ekadasi on a grand scale

TIRUPATI: The

Tirumala

Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) won accolades from VIPs and common devotees alike for making the best of arrangements for the annual

Vaikunta Ekadasi

festival, which was conducted on a grand scale on Monday.

Proceedings at the Tirumala temple began as early as 12.30 am when priests performed Dhanurmasam rituals and opened the ‘Uttara dwaram’ — also referred to as ‘Vaikunta dwaram’ — located adjacent to the sanctum sanctorum. Union and state ministers, around 15 judges, elected representatives, bureaucrats and several top officials offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara between 1.15 am and 3.45 am.

TTD sources said over 3,800 VIP passes were issued for Vaikunta Ekadasi this year. Though the temple administration had earlier declared that the VIP darshan slot would be from 2 am to 5 am, TTD advanced the slot from 1.15 am to 3.45 am to advance the darshan timings for common devotees who were awaiting their turn in large numbers in the outside queue lines.

Darshan for common devotees began sharp at 3.45 am and went on uninterrupted. TTD allowed 2,500 devotees, who donated to the Srivani trust, for darshan at around 10 am on Monday. Around 90,000 devotees offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara and had the opportunity to tread through the ‘Vaikunta dwaram’, considered to relieve those passing through it from the cycle of rebirth.

Spiritual dioramas set up by the garden wing of the TTD stood out as a special attraction. TTD spent Rs 25 lakh to design the concepts of Dasavatara Vaibhavam and Asta Lakshmi, set up near the Vaibhavotsava mandapam.

Among those who visited the temple were Union minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy, state ministers Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and Vellampalle Srinivas, Telangana ministers KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao and elected representatives from AP and Telangana.

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