Lakhs throng Tirumala to witness Garuda Seva

All precautionary measures taken by TTD thrown out of gear. Heavy jostling dominated the procession of ‘Mohini avataram’ in the morning despite the presence of hordes of security personnel.

Lakhs of devotees from different parts of the country converged here to witness the auspicious Garuda Seva on Tuesday the fifth day of the nine-day annual Brahmostavams at the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara. The town witnessed hectic pilgrim activity since the break of dawn.

All the precautionary arrangements made by the TTD were thrown out of gear and the pilgrims were left high and dry. Devotees were rather forced to spend arduous hours in the convoluted darshan lines that stretched on to the roads.

The pilgrim crowd which started swelling since Monday evening was at its peak by Tuesday evening. Perturbed with the reports that over 50,000 devotees have already reached the town the previous night, the management suspended the issuance of Divya darshan tokens till Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, both footpaths – Alipiri at Tirupati as well as SriVari mettu at Srinivasa Mangapuram reported a steady flow of pilgrims even on Tuesday.

On the other hand, the mada streets encircling the sacred shrine through which the procession of Garuda Seva was to pass by remained choked with pilgrim crowd. Fearing non-availability of space, tens of thousands of devotees preferred staying back in the mada streets since morning. Even the heavy down pour in the afternoon which, at one stage, threatened to dampen the festival spirit did not make any difference with the resolute devotees remaining stuck to their seats and refusing to move away from the mada streets.

Heavy jostling dominated the procession of ‘Mohini avataram’ in the morning despite the presence of hordes of security personnel. The deity apparelled in the best feminine attires and mounted atop the ivory palanquin amusingly watching her own reflection in the mirror with a green parrot in her hand was nevertheless a cynosure to the eyes of the devotees.

The presence of hordes of police personnel even at the places not required was not only tryst with patience for the devout but also is being criticised to have taken away the sheen of the festival. The on duty police personnel, who stood guard at important entry points in the mada streets as never before, forestalled the entry of the common devotees into the mada streets (several hours ahead of the commencement of the Garuda seva festival), however, facilitated a comfy entry to their own kith and kin.