Lord Kodandarama rode his favourite celestial carrier ‘Hanumantha Vahanam’ around the temple as part of the annual brahmotsavams here on Wednesday.
The deity was seated on a gold-gilded carrier of a ferocious-looking Hanuman with a dazzling halo behind, and was taken on the outer precincts of the temple that forms the four Mada streets. Adding grandeur to the event were the caparisoned elephants, decorated bulls and majestic horses, all forming part of the TTD’s temple paraphernalia. In the evening, the bejewelled deity was taken on ‘Gaja Vahanam’, a carrier in the form of a mammoth elephant.
Meanwhile, several temple managements responded to the clarion call given by the TTD’s Joint Executive Officer Pola Bhaskar to linkup the smaller Rama temples in the district with the TTD’s Sri Kodandarama temple. Fifty teams from across the district came to the temple for the celestial event and offered ‘silk vastram’ to the presiding deity. A ‘Shoba Yatra’ was taken out from Ramachandra Pushkarini via Mahati auditorium, Gandhi Road and Chinna Bazar up to the temple portals, where the teams were received with ceremonial temple honours.
‘Pustaka Prasadam’ (presentation of spiritual books as a holy offering from the temple) will be given away by the TTD’s propagation wing Hindu Dharma Prachara Parishat to the village temples for spreading the Rama cult on the auspicious ‘Sri Rama Navami’, which falls on April 8.