Hyderabad: The city’s denizens welcomed New Year 2026 by thronging temples across Hyderabad, giving the sacred places a bustling and festive look on Thursday.

Major temples such as Sri Peddamma Temple (Jubilee Hills), Birla Temple (Adarsh Nagar), Sri Hare Krishna Golden Temple (Banjara Hills), Chilkur Balaji Temple, and Sri Shyam Baba Temple (Kachiguda) witnessed huge rushes from early morning.

After celebrating the 31st night with parties and festivities, many people follow the tradition of visiting temples on the first day of the New Year, seeking blessings and hoping for prosperity in the coming year.

Almost one lakh devotees visited the Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Temple at Chilkur, popularly known as the Visa God temple. The temple opened from 4 am, allowing smooth darshan throughout the day. Chilkur head priest CS Rangarajan said all sevas were cancelled, and only darshan was permitted to ensure smooth movement. Due to heavy crowds, pradakshinas were also not allowed.

At the Hare Krishna Golden Temple, Banjara Hills, elaborate arrangements were made to facilitate smooth darshan for thousands of devotees, who sought blessings from Sri Sri Radha Govinda and Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. Health Minister C Damodar Raja Narsimha visited the temple for darshan.

Sri Peddamma Temple saw queues flooded with devotees from early morning. L Surekha, a regular visitor, said she had visited the temple on the first day of the New Year for the fourth consecutive year, hoping for happiness and blessings.

The Birla Temple (Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Temple) was also heavily crowded. Devotees waited in serpentine lines that stretched from the base staircase to the temple on top, with darshan taking one to three hours. Similar scenes were observed in other major temples across the city, as people sought an auspicious start to 2026 with renewed hopes and devotion.