A sea of devotees trekked for over several hours for the annual ‘Giri Pradakshina’ of Sri Varahalakshmi Nrusimha Swamy temple of Simhachalam on Saturday evening to mark Guru Pournami.
The streets of MVP Colony, HB Colony and Seethammadhara were teeming with people as many chanted ‘Govinda, Govinda’ and enthusiastically continued their 32-km trek without showing any signs of fatigue.
Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju flagged off the chariot with replica of the deity at the foothills of Simhachalam Hills in the afternoon.
According to a conservative estimate, over five lakh devotees participated in this year’s annual ritual. Devotees started their trek from the first step of stairs (leading to the hill), after praying to the replica of the deity, located at the foothill, and trek along the BRTS Road towards Hanumanthawaka. Many took a dip at Jodugullapalem Beach and continue their trek towards MVP Colony and back via Seethammadhara HB Colony, Alluri Seetharama Raju statue and Madhavadhara, R & B, National Highway, NAD Kotha Road and back to Simhachalam.
Voluntary service
Relentlessly extending their services for the steady stream of devotees, volunteers all along the roads served water sachets, butter milk, tea and ‘prasadam’. This year, many apartment associations came forward to set up kiosks in front of the residential complexes to pep up the spirit of the devotees with water sachets and ‘pulihora’.
The GVMC deployed a strong team of sanitary workers who were at work to continually keep the city streets clean. Organisations like Hare Krishna Movement organised ‘Sankirtan’ to mark the event.
Some senior citizens and women were seen taking a break on the footpaths with the youngsters helping them apply pain balms on their feet. Social organisations and medical stores also offered the devotees pain killers and antiseptic creams to relieve them of pain and bruises.
“I have never missed this annual ritual for the past three years. This year, I had some knee issue but wanted to complete my fourth trek and took pain killers from a voluntary organisation to continue my journey,” said 62-year-old B. Satyamma.
APSRTC arranged special buses for those who could not trek the 32-km stretch.
