Tirumala temple closed for lunar eclipse

Tirumala: Following the age-old practice, the temple doors were closed in Tirumala on Friday evening at around 5 pm in connection with lunar eclipse. As the lunar eclipse begins at 11.54 pm of Friday and lasts till 3.49 am on Saturday, the temple doors were closed six hours prior as per tradition.

The temple priests led by chief priests Venugopal Deekshitulu duly observed the religious ceremony before locking the doors one by one and carrying the locks called Kuchikola (Yenthrika). 

TTD executive officer A K Singhal was also present at the closing of the main door of the famed shrine. The doors will be reopened on Saturday at 4.15 am with Suprabhata Seva followed by other daily rituals after performing Suddhi (cleansing) and Punyahavachanam..

Interestingly, the famous Saivite shrine Sri Srikalahastheeswara at Srikalahasti, 40 km from here, remained open for darshan while other Vaishnavite temples in the district were closed due to lunar eclipse. As Kalahasti temple is also Rahu-Kethu Kshetram, the shrine was not closed on lunar eclipse day.