ANANTAPUR: The Nallamala forest en route to Srisailam has been witnessing the presence of huge crowds of padayatra devotees, mostly those on Shiva Deeksha, marking the Shivaratri Brahmotsavalu.
Devotees on the padayatra walk at least 43 km through deep forests, which takes 24 to 30 hours to reach the temple town. Tens of thousands of devotees from AP, TS and Karnataka embarked on the padayatra this time.
The Srisailam temple authorities are providing necessary facilities to the visting devotees in the forest area. The temple authorities and NGOs supply food and safe drinking water to the devotees. Water tanks were set up along with pandals for short-duration rest for the devotees, in safe locales, in view of the likely threats from wild animals.
The deep forest starts at Venkatapuram in Atmakur mandal, from where the 43 km walk in the forest area starts, en route to the temple. The distance from Hyderabad is about 280 km or 270 km from Vijayawada including the 43 km forest journey.
The Srisailam temple EO said elaborate arrangements were made for the padayatra at various stages in the Nallamala forest for all the 11 days. Normally, the padayatra detoveets are allowed only twice a year for Maha Shivarathri and Ugadi. Huge crowds of Karnataka devotees prefer visit during Ugadi while the Shivadeeksha devotees from all states take part in the festival during Shivaratri.
The EO said medical camps are functional round-the-clock at several locations in Nallamala forest. Arrangements were made for the Shivadeeksha devotees to offer Jyothirmudi. On Monday, the Hamsa Vahana Seva procession was taken out in the mada streets.
Earlier, the Vijayawada Kanakadurga temple priests offered silk clothes to Lord Mallikarjuna Swamy and Goddess Bramarambhika. In addition, the forest department permitted plying of vehicles round-the-clock in the forest area for 11 days.
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