The nine-day annual religious carnival -- Navaratri Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateswara concluded on a grand note with the conduct of ‘Chakrasnanam’ on Tuesday.
The processional deities of Lord Malayappa swamy and his two divine consorts along with the idol of Sudarshana Chakrathalwar were carried in a grand procession to the venue-- Sri Varahaswamy temple -- situated on the banks of the holy pushkarini in the wee hours of the day as part of the Pallaki Utsavam where the temple priests conducted several religious formalities.
After the ceremonious conduct of the Snapana Thirumanjanam (celestial bath) to the deities, the priests carried the idol of Chakrathalwar and immersed it in the tank waters thus indicating the culmination of the mega spiritual pageantry. Thousands of devotees who were waiting till then, for the auspicious moment plunged into the pushkarini to take a holy dip.
Earlier, Choornabhishekam was carried out inside the main temple complex followed by special rituals at the Ranganayakula mandapam.
Meanwhile, addressing the media persons at the Annamaiah Bhavan TTD Executive officer L.V. Subramanyam thanked all those who were part of the grand fiesta and expressed his happiness at the celebrations being incident-free.
Dwelling at length, he said that while 4.75 lakh devotees had the darshan of the presiding deity during the last eight days the temple derived a record income of Rs. 18.58 crore – an increase by over Rs. 4 crore when compared to 2010 when the temple had witnessed two Brahmotsavams. Of the total income a major chunk of Rs. 12.93 crore was derived from the temple Hundi by way of offerings by the devotees and the rest from the sale of laddus and darshan tickets.
He expressed his happiness at the large participation of Sri Vari Sevaks and said that for the first time in the temple history over 1,268 including 277 female volunteers rendered services at Kalyanakatta – the place where the pilgrims get their heads shaved in fulfilment of their prayers.
