More devotees throng Srisailam shrine on last Monday

Srisailam Project: More devotees made a beeline to the Srisailam Devasthanam shrine on the last Monday of the Karthika Masam, after taking a holy dip in Patala Ganga.

This forced the board to change the temple timings. It was opened for the visitors at 2.30 am. The usual rituals like ‘Suprabata Seva’, ‘Pratakala Pooja’, ‘mahamandala Harathi’ were conducted from 3 am onwards.

Later, the devotees were allowed to have ’Sarva darshan’ and participate in ‘Arjita seva’. In view of the heavy rush, the sale of ‘Suprabata seva’ and ‘Mangala Harathi’ tickets was stopped.

The devotees took seven to eight hours for the free darshan and three-four hours for the quick darshan. Over 100 temple staffers and ‘Siva sevakulu’ participated in the preparations for the Deepotsavam for almost eight hours. The Siva Lingam, Trishulam, Srichakram were illuminated during the Deepotsavam, much to the liking of the visitors.

The Peetadhipati of Tuni and Dharmpuri Sachidananda Saraswathi attended the ‘laksha deepotsavam’ programmme, according to Executive Officer Bharat Gupta.

To mark the day, ‘Purana pravachanam’ by Vedic scholar Dr Mahantayya was organised. He threw light on the importance of Karthika Masam, Deepa Mahima and Deepa Aradhana.

A flute recital by G D Phani Kumar and party of Kurnool was also held. Endowments Commissioner Anuradha and Joint Collector of Kurnool district Prasanna Venkatesh were among the visitors to the devasthanam.

By Sirra Syam Sundar Rao