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Gandhi is worshipped like a God here
After 147 years of his birth and 68 years since his death, Mahatma Gandhi is worshipped like a God in a temple located at Chityal, 74 km from Hyderabad.
Hyderabad: After 147 years of his birth and 68 years since his death, Mahatma Gandhi is worshipped like a God in a temple located at Chityal, 74 km from Hyderabad.
The temple built over a sprawling area of 4.5 acres beside the national highway 65 has been drawing huge crowds since it was opened two years ago.
Sripal Reddy, a businessman from Guntur district and three of his friends, are the founder trustees of the temple. And there are a few others who are helping out the trustees in running the temple.
Here, the ritual procedures and formalities are like in any other regular Hindu temples. The temple opens at 6 am and closes at 8.30 pm. Priests perform all types of pujas for devotees who visit the God Gandhi.
“Most of the devotees are those who purchase new cars and two-wheelers and weekends are dominated by college students who pray for good marks and US visas,” said priest Narasimhachary.
Here is a mediation centre at the bottom of the 3-storied temple. Soil from as many as 30 holy pilgrim places in the country, including Varanasi, Amritsar and Tirupati are brought here and stored in different shelves and the copies of holy books of all major religions, including Bible, Quran and Bhagawad Gita are displayed reflecting Mahatma Gandhi’s communal harmony preaching.
Trust chairman Sripal Reddy is of the view that God Gandhi has already performed a miracle to the people of this area. “Earlier, this entire curve of the national highway was accident prone zone, as at least 150 persons used to die every year in the mishaps. But, after the temple was constructed the accidents have come down by 90 per cent,” he said. People of this area are more than happy, he said.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on Sunday, October 2, the temple will be conducting several special pujas for devotees and events for school and college students. An essay writing competition is being held on the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi. Nalgonda district collector Satyanarayana Reddy will be the chief guest.
