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The conferment of Bhavani Deeksha began at Mallikarjuna Maha Mandapam of the Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam atop Indrakeeladri here on Thursday.
The conferment begins on Kartika Suddha Ekadasi, an auspicious day in the Telugu calendar. The conferment will conclude on November 27, Kartika Pournami.
The hill on Thursday was caught in Deeksha fervour as devotees, in red robes, reached Mallikarjuna Maha Mandapam chanting the various names of Goddess Durga. The rituals began with the temple sthanacharya Vishnubhatla Sivaprasada Sarma, Executive Officer K.S. Rama Rao and others performing puja to the processional idols of Goddess Kanaka Durga, and Her consort Mallikarjuna Swamy before bringing them to the sixth floor of Mallikarjuna Maha Mandapam.
The priests performed Ganapati Puja, Punyahavachanam, Mandapa Aradhana, Kalasa Sthapana etc. and invoked the Goddess. The two-hour rituals indicated the beginning of the 41-day Deeksha.
Later, the temple Upa Pradhana Archaka Y. Nagaraju Sastry, Acharya Guru Bhavani, took the Deeksha, and conferred the Mandala Deeksha to devotees.
The Executive Officer said that the temple priests would confer Ardha Mandala Deeksha from December 13 (Margasira Suddha Vidiya) to 17 (Margasira Suddha Sashti). On Margasira Pournima, December 26, Kalasa Jyothi would start from the Sivarama Kshetram at Satyanarayanapuram at 6 p.m.
The temple priests would perform the necessary rituals for the Deeksha Viramana (relinquishment) from January 3 to 7. Agni Pratishthapana, opening of ‘agni kundam’ would be performed on January 3 at 6.50 a.m. The Deeksha Viramana would conclude with Maha Purnahuti on January 7, he said.
As devotees took a holy bath and lined up at the temple, the priests conferred Deeksha on them by chanting Vedic hymns. The Bhavanis, as they would be called post conferment of Deeksha till they relinquish it, went round the temples of Kanaka Durga, Malleswara Swamy and other sub-temples on the hill.
