Corona eclipses Srikalahasti temple

Tirupati: Even though all temples are getting ready to provide darshan to the devotees from Monday, the Covid-19 eclipse has still encompassed the famous Srikalahasteeswara Swamy devasthanam.

Interestingly, when all temples are closed during a solar or lunar eclipse, Srikalahasti temple, also known as Dakshina Kasi, is kept open and Abhishekam has to be performed during that time to Vayulingeswara Swamy. But, this time when all temples are going to open, the doors of this Shivaite temple would be closed for the devotees as it is located in the containment zone. It may be noted here that Covid cases have been rampant in Srikalahasti town which has so far reported nearly 100 positive cases.

At one stage, district Collector Dr N Bharat Gupta has decided to impose a total lockdown in the town without allowing anyone to come out of their homes. In spite of several measures taken to contain the virus, it had spread alarmingly and the entire town continued to be tagged as red zone.

However, with the change in red zone norms, only some areas where the cases were high were put under this category changing other areas into orange zones and even some areas are made green zones. Since the areas surrounding the temple continue to be in red zone the authorities have decided not to open the temple for darshan. Apart from people of Srikalahasti other devotees were eagerly waiting for worshipping Lord Shiva as it was more than 75 days since the temple is closed.

Executive Officer C Chandrasekhar Reddy told The Hans India that though they were ready to open temple they could not since it is in the containment zone. "Covid tests will be conducted on the temple employees and the residents around temple area on Monday. Based on the results the Collector will take a decision," he maintained.

However, the temple has made elaborate arrangements for the devotees to maintain physical distancing and to perform Rahu-Kethu pujas in limited numbers. Steps were taken to disinfect the temple premises in regular intervals, to make sanitiser available for devotees and for thermal screening.