Even as the State government had instructed people to avoid huge public gatherings to check the spread of COVID-19, the rush of pilgrims was undeterred at Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Devasthanam in Vemulawada of Rajanna-Sircilla district on Monday, the auspicious day to worship the deities.
The pilgrims arrived normally to the temple shrine since Sunday evening and offered prayers to the presiding deities after taking a holy dip in the dharmagundam on Monday and formed serpentine queues. The devotees competed to offer traditional ‘kode mokku’ (tying of an ox) at the shrine.
Though the Devasthanam authorities had erected posters educating the people about COVID-19 and measures to be taken to avoid the spread of the disease, the pilgrims rush was normal. The temple staff was given masks to wear while discharging their duties. But, the pilgrims were visiting the temple without any masks and offering prayers. Only a few pilgrims were seen wearing masks and some others were covering their face with a handkerchief and ‘chunni’.
An ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, Vajramma from Shathrajpalli village of Vemulawada mandal said that she had come to offer prayers to Rajanna (Lord Shiva) and she does not know about COVID-19 disease. When informed about the advice not to attend huge gatherings as the disease would spread, she asked: “Why was the temple kept open for the devotees to come and offer prayers?”
The temple officials said that the pilgrims rush was normal and as expected on every Monday, which was considered an auspicious day. The day-long pilgrims rush at the shrine was around 20,000 to 30,000 on Monday, they said and added that they had accorded priority for sanitation by cleaning and spraying bleaching powder etc. They had planned to take up sanitisation of the queue lines, but failed to do so because of heavy pilgrims rush. The officials also said that the number of pilgrims had not declined during the recent Shiva Kalyanotsavam festivities and hoped that the pilgrims would be very high on Sri Ramanavami festival on April 2.
The Vemulawada temple shrine may witness around two lakh devotees to witness the celestial wedding of Lord Rama with his consort Seeta on Sri Ramanavami celebrations. Incidentally, Vemulawada is the only temple shrine in the country where the devotees including men, women and transgenders marry lord Shiva on the festival to seek fulfilment of their wishes and freedom from ailments.
