Temples in district shut for lunar eclipse

Tirupati: In view of total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, temples across the district remain closed including Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala and Varasiddhi Vinayaka Temple at Kanipakam.

At Tirumala, Joint Executive Officer (JEO) K Srinivasa Raju has participated in the temple closure ceremony along with the priests. The priests will reopen the temple door on Wednesday night and the devotees will be allowed inside the temple from 9.30 pm onwards. The TTD has cancelled all arjitha sevas and divya darshan tokens following the lunar eclipse. 

The TTD officials said that more than 11,000 pilgrims had darshan of Lord from early morning 3.30 am to 11 am. Even, the TTD has stopped Nithyannadanam up to 9.30 pm on Wednesday.

As a result, hotels and tiffin centres were packed with pilgrims. At Kanipakam, priests have shut the doors of the temple at 11 am. Many locals have purchased Darbha grass from market and kept them in their prayer rooms and other corners of their houses as per the directions of priests. 

Markets were crowded with people thronging to buy Darbha grass for performing special rituals in their houses on the occasion of full lunar eclipse. City residents have rushed to the Regional Science Centre (RSC) to observe the celestial wonder of lunar eclipse in the sky.  

The RSC has arranged the advanced telescopes for viewing the eclipse. Especially, children and college students have shown interest in viewing the eclipse through the telescope. Many elders also viewed the eclipse at RSC from 6 pm to 7.30 pm.