The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Janmashtami celebrated with fervour in Tirupati

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Janmashtami celebrated with fervour in Tirupati

Staff Reporter

Revering the cow: TTD Executive Officer K.V.Ramanachary garlanding a cow as part of ’Gokulashtami’ celebrations at the TTD’s Dairy Farm premises in Tirupati on Tuesday.

TIRUPATI: Srikrishna Janmashtami was celebrated with great religious fervour in Tirupati on Tuesday.

Devotees thronged all temples managed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) right from the dawn and the rush continued till noon, which again picked up by evening.

At the TTD-run ‘Sri Venkateswara Go Samrakshanasala’ (dairy farm), the Executive Officer K.V.Ramanachary initiated the ‘Gokulashtami’ celebrations by feeding the cattle. He symbolically garlanded a cow after applying turmeric paste and vermilion on its forehead. The cattle barn appeared clean as it was thoroughly spruced up for the annual event. The TUDA chairman and TTD board member C. Bhaskar Reddy also took part in the celebrations.

Devotee influx

Heavy influx of devotees, both locals and visiting pilgrims, was witnessed at the ISKCON’s Radha Govinda Mandir here, in connection with Janmashtami. Official estimates put the number of devotees at 3 lakh compared to the 2 lakh visitors last year. The renovated ‘Lotus temple’ complex was colourfully decorated with flowers and festoons. The entire corridor was barricaded to streamline the huge rush of devotees.

The deities of Radha Govinda and ‘Ashta Sakhis’ (their eight attendants) were so beautifully dressed up that it was an impressive sight to behold. The altar, which is among the widest in the ISKCON temples in the country, was decorated with lotus flowers. Cooking of food went on continuously and free ‘prasadam’ was distributed to all the devotees.

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