Thousands witness celestial event

Karimnagar: Srirama Navami was celebrated on a grand scale with religious fervour at Srirama and other temples across Karimnagar district on Friday. Mahasakthi temple in Karimnagar, Sriram temple at Illandakunta in Jammikunta mandal, Rajarajeswara Swamy temple at Vemulawada, Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple at Dharmapuri, Anjaneya Swamy temple at Kondagattu and temples at other places were well decorated.

Facilities were made for the visit of large number of devotees. Bandi Sanjay Kumar of Mahasakthi temple in Karimnagar has said that several hundreds of devotees witnessed the celestial marriage of Lord Rama and Goddess Sita at the temple.

Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu, on behalf of Government, submitted Pattu Vasthrams and Thalambralu (pearls) to the deities at Illandakunta. Devotees, numbering about 20,000 visited the temple on the occasion and witnessed the celestial wedding. Rice millers, businessmen and other philanthropists arranged Annadanam to the devotees.

MP Ponnam Prabhakar, Joint Collector H Arun Kumar, District Revenue Officer (DRO) K Krishna Reddy, Temple Committee chairman Yasani Ravinder, State Fisheries Society president Cheti Dharmaiah, Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Sandhya Rani, Jammikunta Market Committee chairman Sammi Reddy and others were present.

Government Whip Arepalli Mohan, MLC Santhoshkumar and other leaders participated in the festivities at Vemulawada. About two lakh devotees had the darshan of deities at the temple. The celestial wedding was held at a specially decorated Mandap at the temple on a grand scale.

The wedding of the celestial couple was held on a grand note at Sri Kodanda Rama temple at Godavarikhani in the district on Friday. Peddapalli MP G Vivekananda, Ramagundam MLA Somarapu Satyanarayana, Singareni Ramagundam-1 General Manager Kishen Rao and other VIPs participated in the festival along with their family members. A large number of devotees, especially women, visited the temple on the occasion. The temple authorities made arrangements for the visit of devotees. Police made elaborate security arrangements for the visit of VIPs at the temple.

Adilabad: Srirama Navami was celebrated on a grand scale and thousands of devotees witnessed the celestial wedding of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita to mark the occasion across Telangana region on Friday.

Sri Rama temples at Asifabad, Bellampalli, Mandamarri, Ramakrishnapur, Manchiryal, Srirampur and other towns were illuminated with colourful lights and facilities were provided for the visit of devotees. Suprabhatha Sevas and special poojas were conducted in the morning and the celestial wedding ceremony was held between 10.30 am to 12.00 noon at specially decorated mandapams.

Hundreds of devotees thronged the temple at Ramakrishnapur. Pundit Kommara Satyanarayana performed the celestial wedding at Hanuman temple at Srirampur. MLA Aravinda Reddy and his wife presented `Pattu Vasthrams' to the deities � Sri Ram and Sita - at Anjaneyaswamy temple at Garimella in Old Mancherial. Annadanam was organized on the occasion.

Nizamabad: Ramanavami festival was held on a grand note at the temples at Subhashnagar, Raghunath Alayam at Khilla (fort) and other temples in the town. Ramanavami was celebrated at Hanuman temple at Sarangapur, Dichpalli khila, Indalvai, Bodhan, Banswada, Kamareddy and at other temples in the district.

Annadanam was organised at many temples after the Srirama wedding ceremony. Temple authorities have tried to provide basic amenities to visiting devotees. However, devotees have to wait in long queues to have darshan of deities due to heavy rush. Police made elaborate security arrangement for the visit of VIPs at the temples.