Russians perform Rahu Ketu puja in Srikalahasti

Tirupati: The popularity for Rahu Ketu pujas at famous shrine Srikalahasti Devasthanam has been increasing with every passing day. Several celebrities, including sports personalities, politicians, industrialists, cine actors and others have been visiting the temple to perform these pujas.

While even foreign nationals also perform Rahu Ketu puja, surprisingly, a 25-member delegation from Russia has visited the temple and attended the puja with devotion.

The Rahu Ketu pujas have become so popular which earned a name for devasthanam as 'Rahu Ketu Kshethra'. It has become a money spinner for Devasthanam with more than one lakh pujas being performed every month.

The temple has been yielding around Rs 5 crore per month through this which is more than 50 per cent of the temple's total income.

There are five types of tickets to facilitate various sections of devotees. Though the puja process remains the same for any ticket, it will be held in different mandapams on the temple premises for Rs 500, Rs 750 and Rs 1,500 ticket holders while for Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,000 tickets, it will be performed inside the temple. For Rs 5,000 ticket holders it will be performed individually too. The first three types are performed for devotees in batches. The temple management will provide entire puja material, including silver 'Naga Padigalu' with any ticket and no outside puja material is allowed.

Seeing the huge response to the Rahu Ketu pujas, the temple management at the instance of MLA Biyyapu Madhusudan Reddy has contemplated the idea of introducing gold 'Naga Padigalu' for those who can afford paying more. Temple trust board chairman Anjuru Taraka Srinivasulu told The Hans India that the idea was to fix the ticket price at Rs 25,000 for this puja. The proposal was sent to the approval of the endowments commissioner. He said that the footfall has been ever increasing with on an average of about 40,000 devotees visiting the temple during weekends while during weekdays, the number is between 20,000 to 25,000. The temple management has been taking steps to implement the master plan for the overall development of the Devasthanam. To a question, he said that the Russian contingent has performed the Rahu Ketu puja by purchasing Rs 500 tickets.