Scores of devotees attended the ‘Pushpa Yagam’ (shower of flowers on deities) conducted at the PWD grounds here on Sunday. The Pushpa Yagam marked the end of eight-day spiritual programme of Venkateswara Vaibhavotsavams conducted under the aegis of Tirumala Tiruapti Devasthanams (TTD).
Lord Malayappa Swamy along with his two consorts—Sri Devi and Bhu Devi-- was seated on a royally decked throne and was rendered a rich floral bath with 12 varieties of aromatic flowers and six traditional leaves.
Various flowers like rose, chrysanthemum, Magnolia champaca, oleander, water lilies, fragrant screwpine/pandanus flower), jasmine, and six varieties of leaves like tulasi , maruvam (marjoram), bilwam (Bael) and so on were used on the grand occasion.
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The event was a visual delight to many devotees who gathered at the grounds as each time the idols remained neck-deep immersed in the floral mound formed due to the ceaseless offering of the flowers by the TTD priests amidst vedic chants from by Rig, Sukla yujurveda, Krishna yajurveda, Samaveda and Adharvana veda scholars. The priests ceremonially cleared the flowers showered on the deities and the spiritual exercise was repeated until about three tonnes of flowers of varied hues have gone in the yagam.
TTD JEO Pola Bhaskar said that more than 10 lakh devotees visited the make-shift temple at the grounds. The TTD distributed prasadams to all the devotees who visited the temple. The TTD also organised a photo exhibition — nadu nedu— on Tirumala. A book exhibition was also conducted.