Thousands have rare darshan of deities as Uttara Dwaram opens

Bhadrachalam (Kothagudem): Amid chanting of mantras and slogans of Jai Sri Rama and Jaya Jaya Rama, the flower bedecked Uttara Dwaram of Rama temple was opened to the devotees before the break of the dawn in Bhadrachalam on Tuesday.

The historic Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple resonated with chants of Jai Sri Rama as thousands of devotees had darshan of the presiding deities through Uttara (Vaikunta) Dwaram on the occasion of Mukkoti (Vaikunta) Ekadasi festival on Tuesday.

Large number of devotees had converged on the temple premises in front of the richly decorated temple in the wee hours and jostled for space to catch a glimpse of the presiding deities—Lord Rama, his consort Sita and brother Laxmana.

Before the Uttaradwara Darshanam the priests told the detailed history of the auspicious day. The devotees have a belief that Lord Rama appeared here as Maha Vishnu avatharam on that special day. On Tuesday, Lord Rama appeared on the Garudavahanam, Godess Sita on Gajavahanam and Lord Laxmana Hanumanthvahanam.

According the temple history, Lord Rama appeared here as Maha Vishnu Rupam with the Shanku and Chakras. With Uttaradwaram programme also completed the Pagalpattu celebrations. The Rapathu celebrtations was also conducted during past ten days of the Mukkoti festival. During these days, the deities were taken out to various places in processions.

The Endowments, Revenue and Police departments played a key role in the success of the festival. High Court Judge Justice Siva Shanker, MP Sita Ram Naik, MLC Balasani, MLAs P Veeraiah Dora, Ramulu Naik and District Collector Rajath Kumar Sain, Joint Collector K. Venkateswarlu, SP Sunil Dutt, Sub- Collector Bavesh Mishra and other officers attended the programme.