Fervour marks Vaikunta Ekadasi at Tirumala

Tirupati: As part of Vaikuntha Ekadasi festivities, the procession of Swarna Ratham was held in Tirumala with utmost religious fervour on Thursday.

Lord Malayappa Swamy and his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi adorned with rare and dazzling ornaments riding on the flower decked glittering golden chariot enthralled the devotees who gathered in large numbers to witness the spiritual spectacle.

The women devotees, including 200 employees of TTD, pulled the finely decked mammoth golden chariot with devotion chanting 'Govinda Govinda; reverberating the skylines of the holy hills.

The Ratham glided swiftly along the four mada streets even as the devotees who assembled in the galleries were immersed in Bhakti.

A host of dignitaries, including Chief Justice of India Justice N V Ramana, and his spouse and others joined with the devotees in pulling the rope of the Ratham.

TTD chairman Y V Subba Reddy, executive officer Dr K S Jawahar Reddy, additional EO AV Dharma Reddy, CVSO Gopinath Jatti, chief engineer Nageswara Rao, health officer Dr Sridevi, and other officials were also present.

Meanwhile, the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam after predawn rituals commenced early in the shrine at 1.30 am as planned by temple management to cope with the heavy rush more so VVIPs and VIPs who thronged the hill shrine in a big number to have rare Vaikunta Dwara Darsanam. After the VIPs' darshan, common devotees' darshan began by 7.30 am, TTD said in a release.

TTD EO Dr Jawahar Reddy told the media that darshan is being arranged to devotees as per their time slots, avoiding any waiting for darshan.

He said a buffer stock of five lakh laddus is maintained to ensure no dearth of laddu prasadam to devotees.

Answering a question, he said about 2,000 VIPs, including their family members had darshan on Thursday.

He said more common pilgrims will be allowed once the pandemic was over.

According to temple sources, a host of dignitaries who had darshan on Thursday include CJI Justice N V Ramana, High Court Chief Justice of AP, Telangana and Karnataka Justice Prashanth Kumar Misra, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Ritu Raj Avasthi respectively.

TTD chairman and EO along with family offered prayers.

AS many as 11 minister from AP including Deputy Chief Minister K Naryana Swamy, Chittoor district in-charge minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy, three Telangana ministers including T Harish Rao, more than two dozen MPs and MLAs from AP and Telangana and celebrities were among those who had Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam on Thursdaty.