Devotees defy diktat', throng temples in Telangana

Hyderabad: Despite all the negative talk about January 1 not being part of the Telugu culture and traditions and that there was no need for temple darshans and special pujas on the first day of the new year, people across the state and in the twin-cities flocked to temples with families in tow to seek divine blessings. 

A festive atmosphere prevailed with people going for Vishesh Pujas and Abhishekam besides regular darshans and archan.

The throngs of devotes at temples put to rest doubts that the restrictions on New Year celebrations in AP temples on January 1 — and also the campaign on online media platforms to shun the Gregorian calendar — might have an impact on people. 

Devotees landed up at temples along with their families. The famous thousand pillar temple in Warangal was no exception. According to temple priest and Telangana Archaka Samakhya president Gangu Upendra Sharma, about 50,000 devotees visited the historic temple on first day of 2018. This is as big number as witnessed during festivals and special days, he said.

Famous temples in twin-cities like Mahankali temple (Secunderabad), Peddamma Gudi (Jubilee Hills), Ganesh temple (Secunderabad), Kanaka Durga temple (Ameerpet), Yellamma temple (Bandlaguda), Sri Venkateshwaraswamy temple (Chikkadpally), Ashtalakshmi temple and Sai Baba temple (Dilsukhnagar), Anjaneyaswamy temple (Tadbund) and Shankermutt (Nallakunta) witnessed rush all through the day.

Kanduri Krishnama Chary, who works in the popular Lord Hanuman temple in Adikmet, said that crowds started building up 9 am onwards, obviously due to New Year celebrations, and lasted well past midnight on Sunday. He said temple staff performed special Vishesh Pujas like Aaku Seva and Vada Mala for devotees.

Nearly one lakh devotees visited the Chilkur Balaji temple on Monday. The crowds swelled between 1 and 5 pm with nearly 10,000 people doing darshan every hour.  Hereditary priest C.S. Rangarajan said that he never appealed to people not to visit temples. “My message has been the same in the last three years. Do not celebrate or exchange greetings on January 1. Nobody greeted me on Monday. As far as sit-ups punishment is concerned, it was just meant to ensure that the message reached the people. My intention was not to punish people,” he said.

Meanwhile, there was no let-up in people sharing New Year greetings over phone or through messages. A few messages were circulated on social media urging people not to send wishes to others, but they were completely ignored.