The hill temple of Lord Venkateswara here witnessed an impressive turnout in the pilgrim crowd on the New Year Day on Wednesday.
For the first time in the recent years, the day was observed without any fanfare bringing in a kind of comfort to the devotees who were allowed for the darshan of the presiding deity soon after the completion of the mandatory pre-dawn rituals, all of which were performed in “Ekantham”.
The main doors of the temple were opened at 2 a.m. (as is normally observed during the month-long Dhanurmasam) and over 14,000 pilgrims could finish their darshan even before the promulgation of VIP darshan that commenced at 6.30 a.m.
The TTD too was little liberal in granting VIP darshan tickets with there being no distinguished VIPs falling under the protocol category. The relatively low turnout in the VIPs proved a blessing in disguise for the ordinary pilgrims as about 64,992 devotees could have the darshan of the deity by 6 p.m. The waiting time for the darshan, which initially stretched beyond 18 hours, came down to 12 hours, according to the reports reaching by evening.
Festive spirit
Meanwhile, the festive spirit was all pervasive as the town milled with pilgrim activity since the previous night. Scores of devotees preferred to stay back in the sprawling space available in front of the main temple complex to witness the ceremonial opening of the temple doors.
Thousands of devotees were also seen doing ‘Maha Pradakshinam’ around the Mada Streets encircling the sacred shrine all through the day.
The TTD had dispensed with the performance of all kinds of Arjitha Sevas inside the temple for the day.
