Umbrella procession to reach Tirumala on Sept 21

Tirumala: The 11 decorative Tirupati umbrella’s procession took off amidst religious fervour in Chennai city on Saturday, will reach the pilgrim city on September 21, a day before Garuda seva for presentation to Tirumala temple.

For the last 250 years the umbrellas from Chennai, which were donated by devotees, who will carry them by walk to Tirumala for presentation every year to TTD for Garuda seva, to be held on the fifth day of annual Brahmotsavams in Tirumala.

After a break for some, the presentation of umbrellas by the Chennai devotees to TTD resumed in 2005 with the efforts of Hindu Dharmartha Samithi which has been spearheading the ‘Tirupati Tirukudai Utsavam’ i.e Umbrellas presentation. Swamiji including Ratnagiri Sri Balamurugan Swamy, Kalavai Sachidananda Swamy, Dharmartha Samithi trustees Vedantam and RR Gopal were present in the special pujas performed to the 11 umbrellas in Chennakesava Perumal temple before the procession started from Chennai city.

All along the route a huge number of devotees turned up to accord traditional welcome and harati to the umbrellas.

After covering various places in the city, the umbrellas will reach Soumya Damodara Perumal temple on September 18, Avadi on September 19, Tiruvallur on September 20 and Tiruchanur on September 21. After donating two umbrellas to Tiruchanur Padmavathi Ammavaru temple, the procession will reach Tirumala the same day evening. The remaining 9 umbrellas will be handed over to the Tirumala temple authorities.