A heavy turnout of pilgrims to Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri was witnessed on Wednesday. The temple priests adorned the presiding deity as Sri Durga Devi on the occasion of Durgashtami, the eighth day of the festivities.
About 80,000 devotees turned up to have a darshan of the deity. Heavy police presence was witnessed. It was a common sight of the staff on duty atop Indrakeeladri bringing tens of devotees for darshan. Leaving aside the queue lines, some of the devotees with the help of staff on duty, such as police, had the “privilege of having a quick darshan”.
In some cases, 20 to 30 devotees were taken for darshan from VIP gates. The devotees waiting in the queue lines were seen cursing themselves for this out of turn darshan for kin of the staff on duty.
The VIP rush too was significant. Notable among were Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivas Rao, Director-General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang, Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Prashant Kumar Mishra and others.
The Minister, speaking to the media, said that the temple managed to provide darshan to all the devotees on Moola Nakshatram, Saraswati alankaram, on Tuesday. The temple was kept open till the last devotee had the darshan, he said.
The presiding deity will be decked up as Mahishasura Mardhini on Thursday and Rajarajeswari on Friday. Arrangements were being made for the colourful ‘teppotsavam’, the celestial boat ride of the goddess and her consort, in the Krishna on Friday evening. The Dasara festivities will conclude with the celestial boat ride.
