Hundreds of devotees thronged Srikakulam on Saturday itself to have ‘darsan’ of Sri Suryanarayana Swamy at Arasavalli on the auspicious occasion of Ratha Saptami to be celebrated on Monday. With their arrival and decoration of the temple premises, Arasavalli wore a festive look a day before the celebration of ‘Surya Jayanti.’ The devotees believe that the Sun God would bless them with health and wealth if they could have ‘darsan’ on the day of Ratha Saptami.
The temple is believed to have been built in the 7th Century AD by the Kalinga rulers Devendra Varma of Odisha. A black granite image of Surya about 5 feet in height bearing lotus buds, flanked by his consorts Padma, Usha and Chhaaya, on a 7-horse driven chariot is the object of worship here.
At the base of the image are the gate keepers Pingala and Danda and the saints Sanaka and Sananda. Surya's charioteer Aruna (Anoora) is also depicted in the image.
Inscriptions reveal grants made by Aditya Vishnu Sarma and Bhanu Sarma of the Kalinga clan.
The present structure is largely a result of 18th-century renovations. The temple is a Panchayatana temple with Aditya in the centre, with Ganesha, Siva, Parvati and Vishnu in four corners of the quadrangle. An image of Indra is also enshrined in this temple.
All hotel rooms booked
Rooms of all the hotels of Srikakulam were booked in advance apart from guesthouses of government. Heavy police force was deployed at strategic locations as 1.2 lakh devotees are expected to throng Srikakulam. The rush is likely to be more as Monday is a holiday on account of Republic Day. Several devotees came to buy tickets in advance as they did not know that the sales would be done in queue lines.
The district administration took this decision to avoid circulation of colour photocopies of the ticket. Several non governmental organisations decided to participate in distribution of water and food packets. Junior Chamber International-Srikakulam wing president Korada Ramesh said his organisation would distribute swine-flu preventive medicines at the temple premises.
