The fourth Tuesday following the annual folk festival ‘Gangamma Jatara’ saw a steady flow of devotees into the Thathayagunta Gangamma temple in the heart of Tirupati.
The annual folk festival came to a grand close last month, but it is an ancient practice for the residents to dress up in various guises and offer prayers at the temple for four Tuesdays following the folk festival, as a form of fulfilment of vow. City Mayor R. Sireesha made it a point to visit the temple on the fourth Tuesday and offer prayers at the shrine.
Meanwhile, artistes belonging to ‘Rayalaseema Rangasthali’, a local cultural organisation, came dressed up as mythological characters from the Mahabharata this week.
The passersby were amazed to see Srikrishna and ‘Pancha Pandavas’ serving ‘Ambili’ (a porridge made of finger millet and buttermilk) to the visiting devotees.
Dr. Sireesha appreciated the organisation’s chairman, G. Gopinath Reddy, and fellow artistes for enlivening the event by donning various guises on the Tuesdays, thus adhering to the ancient practice of the temple city.
