Chariot festival attracts thousands at Podili

Podili: A large number of devotees waited for hours from afternoon on MLA Nagarjuna Reddy at the Nirmamaheswara Swamy temple in Podili on Fridayroads to have a glimpse of the deities on the chariot and seek blessings of the celestial couple at Sri Parvati Sameta Nirmamaheswara Swamy Rathotsavam held on Friday.

As part of the Maha Sivaratri festival, it is a tradition here for more than three centuries to bring the deities to the streets in the chariot to bless the devotees irrespective of the caste and creed. The history of the place says that the temple is constructed by the Venkatagiri Rajas and Srikrishna Deveraya donated the chariot to the temple.

The temple chairman Chamantapudi Nageswara Rao said that the age-old chariot was used till 2010 and the new steering model chariot was made with Rs 40 lakh with own funds. He added that the temple is the only one apart from Srisailam where the Swayambhu Sivalinga has four Dhvajasthambhas in the temple.

The Markapur MLA Kunduru Nagarjuna Reddy, temple chairman Nageswara Rao and leaders from all parties participated in the worship and took part in the Rathotsavam. The streets thronged by the elders, youth and children were resonated with the chants of Harom Hara as the chariot moves ahead.