Indrakeeladri, the abode of Goddess Kanakadurga, was packed with devotees as the relinquishment of ‘Bhavani Deeksha’ began in the early hours of Monday. The entire old town area was bustling with activity as a huge number of ‘Bhavanis’ started pouring in from across the State in the early morning.
A large number of devotees were lined up in queues on the Canal Road and from Kummaripalem Centre waiting for their turn to have darshan of the Goddess on the auspicious occasion.
Many devotees chant ‘slokas’ in praise of the goddess Kanakadurga and Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy while standing in the serpentine queues.
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The Kanakadurga temple was thrown open for ‘darshan’ after special rituals were performed well before the sunset and within no time the number of devotees has swollen. The devotees first made the ‘Giripradakshina’ and had a holy dip in the river Krishna and then had ‘darshan’ of the goddess. It was then time to put coconuts and other puja material contained in the ‘Irumudis’, into the ‘homagundam’ set up at ‘Mallikarjuna mandapam’ down the hill after ‘Agnipratishtapana’ was done.
Elaborate arrangements were made by the temple management for the convenience of devotees. Drinking water and other such arrangements were made by voluntary organisations.
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Meanwhile, tight security was provided by the police to prevent any untoward incident and curbs imposed on vehicular traffic to facilitate trouble-free movement of devotees.
The rush of devotees is expected to reach its peak on Wednesday and Thursday and the temple authorities have accordingly done necessary arrangements. Laddu sales kept the cash registers ringing as nearly 50,000 pieces were sold by Monday evening.