Lankan Prime Minister takes part in Suprabhata Seva; worships Lord Balaji

Tirumala: Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wikramasinghe along with his spouse Prof Maithree Wickramasinghe took part in the pre-dawn Suprabatha Seva of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala before offering prayers to the Lord in the early hours on Sunday.

The foreign dignitary devotedly stood for about 45 minutes till the completion of the sonorous chanting of Suprabatham by the temple priests and pundits, being observed as a ceremony of waking up the Lord, immediately after the temple was opened up in the early hours.

Later, Wikramasinghe along with his spouse offered prayers to the presiding deity. TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal and Tirumala JEO K S Sreenivasa Raju welcomed the Sri Lankan Prime Minister at Mahadwaram and accompanied him during darshan.

Before having darshan of Lord Venkateswara, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka offered Tulabharam, a ceremony observed by ardent devotees at the shrine.

Tulabharam is an age-old tradition at the Tirumala temple in which a devotee wishes to offer sugar, rice, jaggery or cash amount equivalent to his or her weight as token of thanks giving to the Lord.

Wickramasinghe offered Rs 16,160 (all in coins) equalling to his body weight with each kilo costing Rs 202 in Indian rupee. After darshan, the Lankan PM was offered Vedasirvachanam at Ranganayakula Mandapam by Vedic pundits.

He was later presented with Silk Vastram, Theertha Prasadams and a laminated photo of Lord Venkateswara by TTD EO and Tirumala JEO. Senior TTD officials were also present on the occasion.