Religious ecstasy marked the Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at the temple of Lord Venkateswara, here on Saturday (December 23).
Soon after the completion of predawn rituals, the priests ceremoniously opened the Vaikunta Dwaram (the passage circumambulating the innermost sanctum sanctorum of the hill temple), which is opened only once a year on this festival day.
Thiruppavai, which is rendered in the place of Suprabhatam, was performed minutes after 12 a.m. followed by other rituals.
