Visakhapatnam: Chandanotsavam on a low key

Visakhapatnam: Amid minimal grandeur, the annual 'Chandanotsavam' festival of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Simhachalam Devasthanam started off on Friday.

As a part of the festival, rituals began at the shrine from the wee hours.

While the first 'nijaroopa' darshan was witnessed by chairman of the Simhachalam Devasthanam P Sanchaita Ganapathi Raju, silken robes were offered by Tourism Minister M Srinivasa Rao on behalf of the state government. The minister was accompanied by his family members.

Like last year, this year too the annual festival was celebrated sans devotees and minimum staff of the Devasthanam due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation.

However, rituals performed at the temple kalyanamandapam were live streamed on YouTube.

During pre-Covid times, lakhs of devotees used to visit the temple to view the Nijaroopa darshan of Lord Simhadri.

Meanwhile, Sanchaita tweeted that she felt overwhelmed to witness Lord Simhadri's Nijaroopa darshan, offer 'pattu vastram' and seek His blessings. ''With His blessings, we hope to celebrate chandanotsavam with all the devotees next year'', the chairperson tweeted.