With the New Year and Vaikunta Ekadasi falling on the same day, devotees flocked to temples in the city in large numbers to offer worship on Thursday.
Long queues were seen at various temples in Puducherry.
The queue lines were thrown open for darshan from 5.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple, which was decked up for the occasion.
Special pujas were performed by the temple priests for the presiding deity and free ladoos were distributed as ‘prasadam’ to the devotees to commemorate the beginning of the New Year.
A large number of devotees also thronged the Sri Vedapureeswar Temple and Sri Varadaraja Perumal Kovil on Mahatma Gandhi Road.
There was rush of devotees in other temples such as Sri Thirukameswarar Temple at Villianur and Kathirgamam Murugan Temple.
The Swarga Vasal was opened at several temples in the city at 5 a.m. marking the beginning of Vaikunta Ekadasi festival.
The churches in the city too held special prayers for the New Year.
The Immaculate Conception Cathedral at Mission Street and Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus conducted a special mass.
Special prayers were also held in other churches which witnessed presence of foreign tourists.
