Pomp, gaiety mark 893rd Tirupati formation day celebrations

Tirupati: The 893rd formation day of Tirupati was celebrated in the city on Friday amidst pomp and gaiety. The celebrations began with City MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, the brain behind the pilgrim city's birthday celebration, along with people from various walks of life, offering special pujas at the Govinda Raja Swamy temple, around which the present pilgrim city was formed as a tiny agraharam by none other than Bhagavad Ramanuja, the Indian philosopher and most important exponent of Vaishnavism, on February 24, 1130 AD to house the priests and others involved in Nithya Kainkaryam (daily rituals) in the famed Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala.

Amidst chanting of Vedic hymns, blessings from the Jeeyar Swamijis, the religious heads of TTD temples, who also led the procession along with the MLA for a distance, the Shoba Yatra began from the ancient shrine to the accompaniment of traditional music mangala vaidhyam. The Shobha Yatra led by MLA, City Mayor Dr R Sirisha, along with deputy mayors Mudra Narayana, Bhumana Abhinay and others holding placards and portraits of Ramanuja, in traditional attire, marched along the Mada streets, passing through Gandhi road before winding up at Sannidhi street.

The colourful cultural shows of folk arts kolatams, chekka bhajana by TTD Hindu Dharma Prachara Parishad artists, Nama Sankeerthanam by women devotees in saffron robes gave a devotional touch to the procession while the rich decorations with green plantains, saffron colour festoon, flexis of Ramanuja all along the route, gave a festive look in tune with the celebration.

A team of Rayalaseema Rangasthali artists led by its chairman Gundala Gopinath, attired in mythological characters and also don as Lord Venkateswara and his consorts in the procession and chanting of Govinda Govinda and Jai Ramanuja by the participants added more to the spiritual vibe that gripped the streets around the temple.

Speaking on the occasion, MLA Karunakar Reddy said the birthday celebration, which should become a practice every year, was aimed to reinforce the hoary historical and cultural heritage of the pilgrim city to make the world know it and also remind the citizens about their proud legacy that they belonged to a place founded by a great guru and social reformer Ramanuja, who was known as Samatavadi for allowing all to worship in temples.