Simhachalam temple to be closed for devotees for 6 days from today

Visakhapatnam: Devotees will not be allowed for darshan at Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple from Monday to May 15. On May 14, the annual festival 'Chandanotsavam' will be celebrated at Simhachalam.

Keeping the annual festival in view, the temple priests appealed to the authorities to close darshan for the devotees. With most of the priests already tested positive for Covid-19, closing the darshan for the devotees' aims at containing the spread of the pandemic as well.

From Monday, the devotees will not be allowed inside the temple for six days. However, the rituals that are carried out at the temple will be performed as usual.

Meanwhile, the temple staff collected 27-kg of sandalwood paste on Sunday, the third consecutive day, by grinding the sandalwood sticks.

While 17-kg sandalwood paste was collected on day one, another 26-kg was taken on the second day. The paste thus collected will be offered to Lord Narasimha on 'Chandanotsavam'.