New Year day on Monday witnessed a moderate turnout of pilgrims at the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara.
Thousands of devotees, who had congregated at the sprawling open space in front of the main temple complex, went into raptures as the priests opened the golden doors of the temple minutes after the zero hour.
The air was electrified with the chanting of ‘Govinda’ ‘Govinda’ by the devout who lighted up camphor and offered ‘harati’ to the Raja Gopuram from their positioned places even as the priests carried out the pre-dawn rituals inside the temple. Soon after the completion of the mandatory rituals like Thiruppavai, Thomala and Archana, which were conducted in ‘ekantam,’ the temple doors were thrown open to the public.
The VIPs who were in a limited number were the first to be allowed for ‘darshan.’
The moderate turnout came as a surprise to the management which had made elaborate arrangements in anticipation of heavy crowds. The TTD staff attributed the reason to the overplaying of the crowd factor and the failure of the management in meeting the requirements of the devout on Vaikuntha Ekadasi. The VIP friendly declarations coupled with the oft-repeated proclamations annulling the privileges being extended to the senior and special citizens and those reaching the town on foot also are learnt have dissuaded the pilgrims from visiting the temple town.
Festive spirit
On the other hand, the relatively low turnout of VIPs also proved to be a blessing in disguise for the ordinary devotees who were allowed for the darshan as early as 4 a.m. Despite all the odds the festival spirit was all pervasive as the town milled with pilgrim activity since the previous night.
