Tirupati: 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshan begins amid religious fervour

Tirupati: The 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshan began amidst religious fervour in Tirumala temple on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi on Friday. After the predawn rituals, murch-awaited Vaikunta Dwara darshanam was commenced for the pilgrims, which will continue for 10 days till January 3.

Thousands of devotees and VVIPs beelined to the Lord's abode to have the rare opportunity of Vaikunta Dwara darshan, considered most auspicious by Hindus at large. The entire stretch of Vaikunta Dwaram is decorated with flowers and lightning leaving the devotees spell bound.

The hill top temple town and the temple complex which wore festive look with colourful decorations with flowers of various hues and bewitching electric illuminations at all places turned the holy hill into a spiritual paradise with pilgrims chanting 'Govinda, Govinda' coupled with a series of religious programmes from dawn to dusk, including the mass chanting of Bhagvat Gita and Golden Chariot procession held to mark Vaikunta Ekadasi.

Elaborate arrangements were in place in the shrine and also outside in the queue lines leading to the shrine while the TTD staff and Srivari Sevakulu volunteers strived to ensure the pilgrims adhere to Covid guidelines. This time, TTD provided 10,000 offline SSD tokens for locals for 10 days to enable them have Vaikunta Dwara darshan while daily 20,000 special entry tickets were also made available online.

A long list of VIPs had offered prayers including ministers, MPs and MLAs while a total of about 40,000 had darshan on the first day of Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam.

Darshan to the common devotees commenced 90 minutes ahead of schedule after the darshan of VVIP and VIPs, said TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy adding that for the first time TTD allowed the donors of various schemes for darshan on Vaikunta Ekadasi, virtual seva pilgrims and also issued 1,000 SRIVANI tickets offline for Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan.