Fete concludes with fervour

Tirupati: The week-long annual folk festival ‘Gangamma Jatara’ ended on a grand note with goddess appearing in ‘Viswaroopa darsanam’ for devotees on Wednesday. Thousands of devotees from early hours have thronged temple for having darshan of goddess.

A huge clay idol of Goddess Gangamma was put up in the temple premises by the hereditary priests. Later, it was broken into pieces in the morning hours at an auspicious time as per the age old temple tradition.

Devotees competed with each other to get hold of broken clay pieces of idol as they believe them as sacred. The clay pieces are kept in their houses by mixing them in the water.

A festive atmosphere has prevailed since the morning as devotees from the surrounding areas of Tirupati thronged the temple in huge numbers to witness the concluding ceremony of clay idol breaking event.

Tirupati Urban district police have deployed additional forces to control the devotees in the premises of the temple. The cops diverted the traffic on all the roads leading to the temple.

Temple trust Chairman RC Munikrishna, EO P Subramanyam and board members were present. Later, Munikrishna has conveyed his thanks to all the temple staff, police and MCT officials for smooth conduct of jatara.