Devotees congregate at temples for ‘Uttara Dwara’ darshan

Visakhapatnam: A large number of devotees made a beeline to various temples to offer prayers on the occasion of ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ celebrated with religious fervour in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

Marking the occasion, north entrance was facilitated for the devotees at shrines as Vaishnavites believe that Lord Vishnu’s ‘vaikunta dwaram’ remain open on the day.

According to Hindu mythology, the oceans were churned to collect nectar through ‘sagar manthan’ on the auspicious day. The nectar thus collected was given away to Devas and Devathas. Many observe fast on ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ as it is believed that by observing so, they can cleanse their soul and ward off evil.

Serpentine queues were witnessed at Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Simhachalam from the wee hours as devotees congregated at the temple from early hours of the day. After performing special rituals, the gates of ‘uttara dwaram’ (north entrance) opened up for the devotees.

Executive officer of the Devasthanam S Srinivasa Murthy supervised arrangements made so that darshan was facilitated for the devotees hassle-free.

As part of the temple tradition, hereditary trustee of the temple P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and his family availed the first darshan.

As part of ‘uttara dwara darshan’, special rituals were performed at the north gate of the temple from 4.15 am. After the Chairman’s darshan at the temple, common devotees were allowed for darshan from 5 am to 12 noon.

Separate queue lines for Rs.100, Rs.300, and Rs.500 tickets were arranged. Devotees were not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum. Devasthanam officials distributed prasadam to about 20,000 devotees on the occasion.

Seer of Visakha Sri Sharada Peetham Swami Swaroopanandendra Saraswati, city Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari, GVMC Commissioner CM Saikanth Varma, former minister P Balaraju, former MLA Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, among others, visited Simhachalam.

Meanwhile, thousands of devotees visited Vaishnavite temples across the city. Among other shrines, Vaibhava Venkateswara Swamy temple at Murali Nagar, TTD’s Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple located at Rushikonda, Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple at Bheemunipatnam, Sri Rama Satyanarayana Swamy temple at Isukakonda near KGH and Venkateswara Swamy temple at Venkatadri in Pendurthi rural exuded a festive atmosphere.

The temple authorities made special arrangements to facilitate a hassle-free darshan for the devotees through the north entrance.

Elaborate puja rituals were held at TTD’s Srivari temple at Rushikonda as it facilitated special darshan for the devotees. Executive officer of the Devasthanam Jaganmohanacharyulu mentioned that the VIP darshan was kept open from 4 am to 6 am followed by ‘sarva’ darshan