Vijayawada: Thousands throng Durga temple on Ugadi

Vijayawada: Thousands of devotees on Tuesday visited Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam (Durga temple) atop Indrakeeladri to mark Sri Krodhi Nama Samvatsaram, the beginning of the Telugu year.

Temple administration decorated the temple with flowers and lighting and opened the temple at 3 am. The temple EO KS Rama Rao instructed the officials to provide all basic amenities for the hassle-free darshan of devotees.

Ugadi Panchanga Sravanam was performed in the afternoon at Dharmapadam Kala Vedika by noted Panchangakarta and Siddhanthi Brahmasri Kappagantu Subbarama Somayaji. The temple EO, priests and staff participated in the Panchanga Sravanam.

The temple EO felicitated Kappagantu Subbarama Somayaji on the occasion and distributed the Panchangam booklets. Temple chief priest Y Malleswara Sastry, deputy chief priest P Srinivasa Sarma and other priests were felicitated.

Commissioner of endowments S Satyanarayana visited the temple and inaugurated the Ugadi panchangam. He offered special prayers to mark the Ugadi festival. The temple administration arranged free bus services to the devotees and offered butter milk in view of the sweltering heat. Pushpalankarana was performed decorating the temple with flowers.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court judges Justice V Sujatha and Jyothirmai visited the temple and performed special prayers.

The temple EO Rama Rao welcomed the High Court judges and presented Sesha vastram and Prasadam.