Nine-day Dasara festivities take off on grand note in Vijayawada
Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazir, accompanied by his family members, visited the temple and offered silk robes to the Goddess
VIJAYAWADA: The nine-day Dasara festivities at Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam, atop Indrakeeladri began on a grand note here on Sunday. On the first day of the festivities, the presiding deity was adorned as Sri Bala Tripura Sundari Devi.
The festival began with the temple priests performing traditional rituals like Suprabhata Seva at 3 am, Snapanabhishekam at 3:30 am, Balabhoga nivedana at 6:30 am and Nitya archana at 7:30 am. Devotees from various parts of the State reached the temple premises and they were allowed to have darshan of the Goddess from 9 am.
Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazir, accompanied by his family members, visited the temple and offered silk robes to the Goddess. Vijayawada West MLA Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao and the temple priests welcomed them with temple honours and accompanied them during the darshan.
Tourism Minister RK Roja offered special prayers at the temple. She appealed to the police personnel and volunteers to ensure hassle-free darshan to the elders and women devotees reached the temple with their children.
TDP leader and former minister Devineni Umamahesewara Rao trekked the hilltop from the queue starting from Lord Vinayaka Temple on the canal road. Earlier, he offered special prayers at Vinayaka Temple for the well-being of TDP president Chandrababu Naidu.
NTR District Collector S Dilli Rao said that elaborate arrangements were made for the smooth conduct of the nine-day Dasara festivities. Volunteers were deployed to supply drinking water and butter milk to the devotees. Expert swimmers were deployed near the bathing gates for devotees to have a holy dip in the River Krishna.
“Anticipating the devotees' rush, we have canceled the anthralaya darshan for devotees. We are expecting over 3 lakh devotees will have darshan of the Goddess on ‘Moola Nakshatra' tithi and our top priority is to provide darshan for common devotees rather than VIP’s,” the Collector said, and added that pilgrims could either book tickets in advance through the website or could purchase tickets in three different locations--Sub-collector office, Om turning point and VMC office park.