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Big rush for Chandanotsavam at Simhachalam
Chandanotsavam, the annual festival of the presiding deity of Simhachalam Shrine Srivarahalakshmi Nrusimha Swami, kicked off on a grand scale on Wednesday. Over one lakh devotees stood in queues since Tuesday night for darshan of the Lord in his ‘nija rupam’. The festival began after the hereditary chairman of the temple Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju had the first darshan followed by his family me
Visakhapatnam: Chandanotsavam, the annual festival of the presiding deity of Simhachalam Shrine Srivarahalakshmi Nrusimha Swami, kicked off on a grand scale on Wednesday. Over one lakh devotees stood in queues since Tuesday night for darshan of the Lord in his ‘nija rupam’. The festival began after the hereditary chairman of the temple Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju had the first darshan followed by his family members.
After Tuesday/ Wednesday midnight, the temple priests performing the abhishekam and started the removal of the sandal paste with blindfolded using gold and silver spoons. After complete removal of the sandal paste, the temple priests performed special rituals and again applied small amounts of fresh and wet sandal paste on the head, stomach and the feet of the idol and invited hereditary trustee Ashok Gajapathi Raju into the sanctum sanctorum to have the first darsan of the Lord.
Since 4.30 am, the devotees began having darshan of the Lord. On the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister and Endowments Minister KE Krishna Murthy, on behalf of the state government, offered silk cloths and also from TTD its Executive Officer AK Singhal offered silk robes to the Lord.
The district administration, GVMC, police and heads of other departments collectively made elaborate arrangements for the massive event. Except the protocol and VVIPs vehicles no other vehicles were allowed to the top of the hill. All the vehicles, including RTC buses were stopped within a distance of 2 km from the both ends of the foothills.
The devotees were ferried to the temple in specially arranged buses. The De-vasthanam has not given any passes and special VIPs and other protocol officials were allowed on Rs 1,000 ticket. They were allowed in different time slots and slots announced in advance to ensure hassle-free darshan for ordinary devotees.
For the first time, the temple authorities arranged specially-designed wooden decks in the temple to witness the Lord from the first level entry of the temple. A large number of police personnel were deployed at the temple. As many as 20 assistant commissioners of police (ACP), 45 inspectors, 80 sub-inspectors and 1,700 head constables and constables not only from Visakhapatnam but also from neighbouring districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and East Godavari were put on duty.
