Thousands have Lord’s darshan braving chill weather

Tirumala: Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, witnessed a huge rush of devotees on the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadasi which was observed at the hill shrine with pomp and gaiety on Tuesday.

Braving chill weather thousands of devotees along with their family members including women, children and aged patiently waited for long time in the queue lines to have Vaikuntha Dwara darshan after a glimpse of the Lord.

The presiding deity was specially decorated for the fete with rare and dazzling ornaments. The temple was thrown open for darshan after predawn rituals so as to cope with the rush of devotees including VVIPs and VIPs who thronged the temple shrine in good number. After the VIPs darshan was over, the darshan for common pilgrims started around 4.30 in the morning and went on till the shrine was closed for the day at midnight.

The shrine wore a festive look with spectacular decoration and illuminations turning a cynosure of all eyes. With meticulous planning coupled with curtailing the number of VIP passes to 3,500, TTD was able to clear the VIPs by 4.30 am an hour before the expected time of 5.30 am. TTD JEO KS Sreenivasa Raju claimed this while interacting with the media later in the day.

Temple sources said about 48,000 pilgrims had darshan by 2 pm which increased to 70,000 by 7 pm. The TTD and police officials said 90,000 pilgrims are likely to have darshan before the closure of the shrine around midnight.

Devotees started pouring on the hills since Monday morning leading to the two massive queue complexes quickly filled up. All sheds in Narayanagiri gardens and the galleries in four Mada Streets set up specially for the occasion at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore were also filled with pilgrims one after another by evening leaving the TTD officials on tenterhooks with the flow continuing resulting in the pilgrims standing in the queue in the open to a stretch of about five km braving the chilly weather in the night.

TTD rolled out continuous supply of snacks, Anna Prasadam, drinking water, coffee, tea, milk etc. providing much relief to the devotees anxiously waiting for their turn of darshan while the artists of HDPP, Annamacharya project and Dasa sahitya Project took part in bhajans and Bhakti sangeet giving solace to the waiting fatigued pilgrims.

Srivari sevakulu volunteers along with TTD staff worked round the clock to extend facilities to the devotees. A total of 128 toilets were set up for women and 101 for men at the Narayanagiri Gardens sheds. Similarly, 176 toilets for women and 164 toilets for men have been set up in the sheds of Mada streets. Special focus was given for cleaning and garbage clearance and first aid centres to provide emergency medicare.

According to APSRTC sources, a total of about 81,000 pilgrims were ferried to Tirumala including 46,000 on Monday and 34,000 till evening on Tuesday.

With pilgrim flow slowing down on Tuesday evening, TTD authorities expect the crowd position coming to almost normal and hope to provide Vaikunta Dwara Darshan to 1,75 lakh devotees by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, local temples including Sri Govindaraja Swamy, Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy at Srinivasa Managapuram and other temples also witnessed huge rush of devotees on the occasion of Vaikuntha Ekadasi.