Poor turnout was witnessed on the second day on Wednesday of Dasara festival here at Indrakeeladri. The presiding deity at the Kanaka Durga temple appeared in the attire of Sri Bala Tripura Sundari.
The temple priests performed ‘Suprabhata Seva’ and other rituals, and allowed ‘darshan’ from 3 a.m. However, the crowd was thin from the early hours and there was not much rush even during the evening hours.
The queue lines, prasadam counters and bathing ghats wore a deserted look. At a point of time, the police and security personnel outnumbered devotees on hill shrine. The VIPs attendance was also meagre.
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As many as 174 couples took part in kumkumarchana performed at Bhavani deeksha mandapam atop Indarkeeladri. The temple provided free meals to about 8,000 devotees at Sringeri Peetham Satram at Arjuna veedhi and Majeti Kalyana Mandapam at Brahmana Veedhi.
Hampi peethadhipathi Sri Govindananda Saraswati Swamy visited the temple. The temple received an income of Rs.9.66 lakh through sale of prasadam and tickets. The laddu sale fetched Rs.2.82 lakh. Sale of Rs.100 ticket fetched Rs.2.19 lakh, while VIP tickets fetched Rs. 2.03 lakh, according to Executive Officer Ch. Narsing Rao.
Meanwhile, Endowments Commissioner Y.V. Anuradha issued orders for constitution of a 21-member Bhakta Janula Seva committee.
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The commitee will oversee the festival arrangements etc.