Vaikunta Ekadasi was celebrated with religious fervour and gaiety at the Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Devasthanam in Vemulawada here on Monday.
On this auspicious festival, temple priests performed special pujas for the presiding deities, Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Parvathi and also Lord Padmanabha Swamy, and took out a procession on the temple premises. Several hundred devotees arrived in large numbers to witness the celebrations and participated in the procession.
In Jagtial district, pilgrims arrived in large numbers to offer prayers at the Sri Laxminarasimha Swamy devasthanam in Dharmapuri located along the shores of river Godavari. In Karimnagar town, devotees made a beeline to the Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple.
Minister for BC Welfare and Civil Supplies Gangula Kamalakar offered prayers at the Venkateswara Swamy temple. Police had made elaborate security arrangements and barricaded the road, following the arrival of several hundreds of devotees.
Uttara Dwara darshan
Hordes of devotees from far and wide had the darshan of Lord Sitarama, the presiding deity of the historic temple in Bhadrachalam, through Uttara Dwaram, the temple’s northern entrance, on the occasion of Mukkoti (Vaikunta) Ekadasi early on Monday.
The richly decorated northern entrance of the temple was thrown open for the sacred ‘Uttara Dwara Darshanam’ amid spiritual ambience replete with Vedic hymns in praise of Lord Sitarama by the temple priests before the break of the dawn. Earlier, the tastefully adorned utsav idols of Lord Rama and His consort Sita Devi were brought to the northern entrance of the temple in an exquisitely decorated palanquin.
The devotees, who turned up in large numbers braving the cold weather conditions to witness the grand religious event, chanted slogans of ‘Sri Rama Jayarama Jaya Jaya Rama’.
A host of special rituals including Sankeerthanams and Pravachanams signifying the importance of the sacred once-in-a-year holy event — ‘Uttara (Vaikunta) Dwara Darshanam’ marked the mega pre-dawn religious ceremony.
Prominent among those who had this darshanam included Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar and Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod.
Collector Rajat Kumar Saini, Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt, Bhadrachalam ITDA Project Officer V.P. Gautham, Bhadrachalam Sub-Collector Bhavesh Mishra, Assistant Superintendent of Police Rajesh Chandra and Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy temple executive officer Narasimhulu oversaw the arrangements in the temple complex.
