The Navarathri pandal at Kasturibaipet spruced up under the supervision of Chintakayala Naga Satyanarayana Murthy, a trustee of Vijayadhri Venkateswara Swamy Temple Devasthnam, looked different from other pandals on the concluding day of the nine-day Dasara festival on Thursday.
The tiny pandal on the thoroughfare leading to Pushpa Hotel drew the attention of everyone on Vijaya Dasami day as it was decorated with currency notes of Rs.1,000 denomination amounting to a whopping Rs.8 lakhs. It was a jaw-dropping experience for the bystanders as the entire backdrop of Goddess Kanaka Durga idol was covered aesthetically by the crisp currency notes for the entire day.
“The devotees of the locality came forward and gave us (the ustav committee) the money. We decorated the pandal with it (the currency notes) and gave it back to them once the puja was over on Thursday night. We had a tough time as we had to keep a strict vigil,” said Mr. Satyanarayana Raju. He said that the devotees believed that by offering money for the puja they would be blessed with prosperity. “Many were of the opinion that we had the pandal decorated with lakhs of rupees for all the nine days of the festival which was not correct,” Mr. Raju clarified.
Though many pandals had idols of Goddess Kanakadurga adorned with a garland of currency notes valued at a few thousands, the pandal at Kasturibaipet overshadowed them going by the amount of money.
