Tens of thousands of devotees took a holy dip in the Padma Sarovaram, the temple tank of Tiruchanur Sri Padmavati Ammavari temple, here on Saturday, observing the ‘Panchami Theertham’ ritual on the final day of the annual Kartheeka Brahmotsavams.
While the ‘Pasupu Saarey’ from Tirumala was brought on an elephant ride with priests following on foot all the way to Tiruchanur, it was received by the Tiruchanur temple staff. After performing ‘Snapana Tirumanjanam’ on the banks of the temple tank, the idol of Sudarsana Chakra was immersed in the tank at the designated auspicious hour.
Thousands of devotees, meanwhile, waited in the tank for the moment of idol immersion and took a dip in the tank amid chants of ‘Govinda Govinda’, as immersing oneself in the tank along with the idol is believed to ward off one’s sins.
Heavy restrictions
The entire Tiruchanur village was cordoned off from all sides unprecedentedly, citing the heavy crowd. With a posse of TTD security guards and policemen posted from non-local destinations, utter clamour prevailed, with the devotees as well as the local residents remaining stranded all over the place. The never-before curbs brought traffic to a standstill on the Tirupati bypass (Chennai-Bengaluru highway) for several hours.
Devotees clad in yellow attire and walking from various destinations in Tamil Nadu were left high and dry. It has been a centuries-old practice for social and charitable organisations to organise ‘Ramanuja Kootams’ to arrange food and accommodation for the trekking devotees, but they were reportedly made to suffer in the garb of restrictions.
As the tank ‘Padma Sarovaram’ was recently renovated, the TTD security sleuths got the gates locked to regulate pilgrim inflow and outflow, but the devotees were seen demanding the sleuths to be left out, which unfortunately is a regular affair on this final day.
TTD Chairman B. Karunakar Reddy, Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy, local MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, ministers P. Ramachandra Reddy and R.K. Roja were among those who visited the shrine.
The deity of Padmavati was taken on ‘golden Tiruchi’ in the evening. Curtains came down on the nine-day fete, with ‘Dhwajavarohanam’ when the priests brought down the sacred flag hoisted on the first day.
