Heavy rush at the Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri on the auspicious Moola Nakshatram on Monday, the seventh day of the Dasara celebrations, forced the temple authorities to cancel all special darshan tickets—Rs.50, Rs.100 and Rs. 250—, apart from the antaralaya darshan. The devotee turnout crossed 1.5 lakh by 6 p.m. and officials expected that it would touch 2 lakh by the night.
Mythology has it that ‘Moola Nakshtram' is the ‘Janma Nakshtram' of the goddess and a glimpse of the goddess on this day would make one free of all sins. The presiding deity was adorned with the Saraswathi Devi alankaranam, holding a ‘veena' and blessing the devotees. The temple was thrown open for public in the wee hours of Monday.
As the crowd swelled up, the officials turned all queues into general darshan lines as the devotees waited for hours together in serpentine queues for darshan.
After taking holy dip in the Krishna River, pilgrims entered the queue at Vinayaka temple. The authorities also suspended operation of special vehicles for transporting the aged, physically challenged, media persons to the temple in view of the heavy rush.
In view of the heavy rush, the Police Department deployed additional forces at all important places to manage the crowd visiting the city. Additional forces were deployed along the queues to regulate the movement of devotees.
Aksharabhyasam
Many parents performed Aksharabhyasam to their children at the Trisakthi peetham near Pandit Nehur Bus Station.
The Marakata Rajarajeswari temple at Patamata also witnessed heavy rush in view of Moola Nakshatram.
