Tirumala temple closed for 11 hours due to solar eclipse
TTD Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy, temple priests and other staff coming out after closing the shrine due to solar eclipse in Tirumala on Tuesday.
Tirupati: On account of the solar eclipse, the famed Tirumala temple remained closed for about 11 hours on Tuesday. Adhering to the age-old temple practice, the shrine was closed at 8 in the morning, six hours before the start of the eclipse and was reopened after purification ceremonies, after the eclipse period at 7 in the evening, allowing pilgrims for darshan.
Keeping in view the closure of the shrine, TTD cancelled all Aritha sevas and also VIP break darshan also. As the TTD closed the Annadanam complex due to solar eclipse, it had made an ad-hoc arrangement providing food packets to the needy pilgrims in Tirumala.
Similarly, all the TTD local temples in the city remained closed for about 11 hours also. They temples that were closed included Sri Padmavati temple in Tiruchanur, Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple, Sri Kodandarama Swamy temple in the city, Sri Kalyana Venkateswara temple in Srinivasa Mangapuram, Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple in Appalayagunta.