Splendour, religious fervour mark Rathotsavam at Tirumala
Staff Reporter
Holy ritual: Priests giving celestial bath to the deity of Goddess Padmavati at the Tiruchanur temple in Tirupati on Friday as part of Navaratri celebrations.
TIRUMALA: Tens of thousands of devotees participated in Rathotsavam (car festival), observed on Friday, on the penultimate day of the nine-day annual Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala.
Colourful procession
The deity of Lord Malayappa Swamy, flanked on either side with His two divine consorts, were mounted atop the ‘Golden Chariot’ and was dragged amidst great religious ecstasy around the Mada streets in a colourful procession. The air was rented with the chanting of ‘Govinda’, ‘Govinda’, by the devotees as the chariot rolled down the Mada streets. The spectacle lasted for more than ninety minutes.
Although the deities were brought to the ‘Ratha Mandapam’ in the small hours between 5.30 a.m., to 6.00 a.m., the dragging of the chariot commenced at 7.00 a.m., in the auspicious lagnam fixed by the temple priests.
The day came to an end with the procession of ‘Aswa Vahanam’ in the evening.
Printer friendly
page Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
