Thousands of people, including Home Minister N. Chinarajappa, from different parts of East and West Godavari districts witnessed chariot festival (Rathotsavam) of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Antarvedi temple on Tuesday.
Earlier, on Monday night, celestial wedding of Lord Narasimha Swamy with goddess Lakshmi was performed. On Tuesday, the chariot festival started at 3.30 p.m. amid elaborate security arrangements .
The chariot was decorated with bananas and other offerings made by devotees from several villages. It started from Rajavari Street and stopped at Aswaroodambika temple. Antarvedi temple chief priest Panigipalli Srinivasa Kiran presented sari, bangles, turmeric powder to the goddess Aswaroodambika
The chariot returned amid chants of “Govinda, Govinda” and reached 16-pillar mandapam late in the evening.
The ‘Kalyanotsavam’ was held on Tuesday night and it was preceded by ‘Mudrikalankarana’, the main ritual before the ‘kalyanam’ was organised in a traditional manner. Bellamkonda and Vundavalli families sponsored the ritual.