hVaikunta Ekadashi was celebrated in the city on Friday sans the fervour and the crowd at the various temples dedicated to Sri Venkateshwara.
This was due to the restriction imposed to curb the possible spread of coronavirus.
Though some of the temples including Yoga Narasimhaswamy temple in Vijayanagar, Venkateshwara temple attached to Maruti temple in Gangotri Layout and Sri Venkateshwara temple at Sri Ganapathi Sachhidananda Ashram were open, the crowd was relatively muted.
Devotees were required to wear masks and no special prayers for individuals were conducted.
Vaikunta Ekadashi traditionally draws a large crowd at Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangapatna. This is one of the oldest temples in the State and is the first of the three temples of Lord Vishnu reclining on Adisesha (Adiranga) on the banks of the Cauvery. The Madhya Ranga is at Shivanasamudra and Anthyaranga is at Srirangam in Tamil Nadu.
The temple at Srirangapatna was open but sources said the crowd was relatively less due to the pandemic. Many devotees tend to visit all the three temples on the same day on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadashi day. But many dispensed with the practice this year in view of the COVID-19.
