Pushpagiri Mutt pontiff Sri Vidya Shankara Bharati Swamy supported the viewpoint presented by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) on the birthplace of Lord Hanuman.
Participating in the third day of the five-day festivities organised to celebrate ‘Hanuman Jayanti’ at Akasa Ganga atop Tirumala hills on Sunday, he said the “puranic evidences” had conclusively proved that Anjana Devi had performed penance at Anjanadri, one of the seven hills comprising Tirumala, to beget Lord Anjaneya.
The pontiff showered praise on the TTD management for conducting ‘Akhanda Sundarakanda Parayanam’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TTD Additional Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy, National Sanskrit University (NSU) Vice-Chancellor V. Muralidhara Sharma, and TTD’s adviser (Vaikhanasa Agama) Mohana Rangacharyulu took part.
Hanuman as mentor
Meanwhile, NSU academic M.G. Nandan Bhat presented a conceptual lecture on ‘Personality of Hanuman’ at the Nada Neerajana Mandapam, wherein he recalled the valorous acts of Hanuman from his childhood.
“As a versatile personality, Hanuman acted as a mentor to devotees to tread the right path of piousness to achieve larger goals in life,” he said.
Quoting the Puranas, he said Lord Anjaneya had never gone after name, fame or power, and remained a devotee of Lord Rama, though he had been tutored in music, statecraft and war strategy by Surya Bhagavan and other saints.
