A large number of devotees had a hassle-free darshan of Lord Sri Suryanarayana Swamy in the historic temple at Arasavalli in the district on Ratha Sapthami on Friday.
With the arrival of thousands of devotees from different parts of Andhra Pradesh and other States, the temple wore a festive look since early hours. The festival of Surya Jayanti began with ksheerabhisekham under the supervision of Swamy Swatmanandendra of the Visakhapatnam Sarada Peetham and chief priest Ippili Sankara Sarma. Endowments Joint Director Bhramaramba offered Pattuvastrams to the presiding deity on behalf of the State government. Deputy Commissioner N. Sujatha and the Executive Officer of the temple V. Hari Suryaprakash monitored the special prayers in accordance with the temple customs. The deity’s ‘nijaroopa darshanam’ (original form) was allowed till 2 a.m. and later the devotees had darshan of the deity in a decorated form.
Deputy Chief Minister D. Krishnadas, Speaker T. Sitharam, Srikakulam MLA Dharmana Prasad Rao, MP Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Vizianagaram MP Bellana Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha member Mopidevi Venkata Ramana and other public representatives had the darshan of the deity.
Limited passes
The introduction of VIP pass system, helped prevent entry of unauthorised persons into the VIP queue line and avoid the chaos witnessed in previous years. A few public representatives and officials have expressed displeasure with the distribution of limited passes. The district administration reportedly issued only 800 passes in spite of pressure from many VIP families.
The donors were allowed in a special queue line as a majority of them were senior citizens.
Indra Pushkarani premises was abuzz with activity and preparation of prasadam in a traditional way. Many women offered prayers to the sun before having darshan in the temple. They expressed happiness with the special arrangements for their puja on the premises.
