Fervour marks Vaikunta Ekadasi
Devotees wait in long queues and seek Lord Vishnu’s blessings.
Chennai: Braving the chill breeze, devotees turned up at Vaishnavite temples and offered worship here on Saturday on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi.
Hundreds of devotees thronged the ancient Sri Parthasarathy Swamy temple, Triplicane, which is among the 108 Divya Desams, since 4.30 am for darshan.
The imposing image of Lord Parthasarathy, decked in rathna angi, along with His divine consorts, was brought through the sorga vasal or paramapada vasal in the wee hours.
The devotees accompanying the Lord chanted slokas and pundits recited verses from the Nalayira Divya Prabhandam. The huge temple wore a festive look and darshan was allowed till midnight. Vaikunta Ekadasi was celebrated in a grand manner at Sri Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore, and also at the Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple, Adyar.
The processional deity, dressed in rathna angi, blessed the devotees. A large number of devotees had a wonderful darshan of the Perumal at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at the TTD information centre in T. Nagar. Prior to this, the pagal pathu utsavam concluded on January 10. The next 10-day festival following the Vaikunta Ekadasi, called raa pathu utsavam will commence from Sunday.
Devotees waited in long-winding queues and sought the Lord’s blessings. Many temples in the city that have multiple deities, including Lord Vishnu, also performed special poojas on the occasion.
The event was celebrated with religious piety at several temples including Sowmya Damodara Perumal temple, Villivakkam, Sri Narasimhaswamy temple, Nanganallur, and Chenna Kesava Perumal temple, Parry’s. The Ashtalakshmi temple overlooking the deep blue waters of the Bay of Bengal, too, received several hundreds of devotees.