ANANTAPUR: A huge swarm of devotees, more than five lakh of them, participated in the country’s third biggest brahma rathotsavam of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Kadiri in this district on Wednesday.
The procession of the big chariot that lasted for about five hours through the thiru (holy) streets of Chowk Circle, MG Road, Shiva Temple, South Gopuram, Hanuman Temple Golla Mandapam of West Gopuram, North Gopuram crossing Hindupur cross Road through East Raja Gopuram arch before it reached back to the base.
While the previous two years were hit by Covid curbs, this year saw the devotees — a majority of them with their traditional commitment to take part in the brahma rathotsavam, reaching from various parts of AP, Telangana and Karnataka.
Thousands of Muslim devotees from Kadiri area offered seeds to the Lord Narasimha Swamy chariot as per the usual custom. Davanam, a fragrance herb, mainly produced in Kadiri area, was offered by devotees to the Lord all through the procession.
The roads from the starting point of the rathotsavam at Kuduta Theru till the end witnessed huge crowds of devotees in devotional mode offering prayers to the full chariot.
The Kutagulla, Gajjalareddy Palli and Murthy Palli villagers who have been part of the rathotsavam for centuries, led the chariot’s process of balancing and control, by using the specially made logs.
The municipal authorities did necessary repairs of the roads and cleared the encroachment for smooth movement of the chariot in the streets. Water supply facilities and temporary toilets were set up at various locations, temple EO Pattem Guruprasad said.
In view of the huge turnout of devotees, traffic diversion was effected and separate parking places were set up. Kadiri DSP Bhavya Kishore directly supervised the security arrangments. A Transco team removed the electricity lines crossing the main roads and there was power cut till the completion of the rathotsavam.
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