Devotees celebrate Vaikunta Ekadasi on a grand note 

Hyderabad: All roads led to the colourfully decked up Lord Venkateshwara temples on Vaikunta Ekadasi on Monday with devotees standing in long queues from early morning seeking divine blessings.

Ii is widely believed that doors to the abode of Lord Vishnu open on this day and that anyone who passes through this door attains vaikuntam.

The 400-year-old Sri Ranganath Swamy temple in Jiyaguda saw thousands of devotees thronging for darshanam from 3 am amid renditions of devotional songs.

People from all age groups, including children and the elderly, dressed up in traditional attire, stood in queue,

After the abhishek and other rituals, the gates were opened for darshana, at 6.30 am.

A. Jyothi from Puranapul said “I came with my family and got in the queue around 5.30 am and we managed to get darshan around 7 am.”

R. Suman, a shopkeeper near the temple, said, “It has been very crowded this year. I, like many others, opened my stall at 3 am.”

Local police officials informed that security arrangements were made, disaster response force deployed for emergences and traffic police were brought in to regulate the crowd. They said that large turnouts were expected till January 6, the last day of the festival.

Similar scenes could be seen at other Venkateshwara Swamy temples, including those at Chikkadpally, Srinagar Colony, TTD temples in Jubilee Hills and Himayatnagar, Chilkur and at Yadadri.

Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple executive officer Geetha Reddy told Deccan Chronicle that around 33,000 people had darshan there.

Assistant executive officer at TTD Himayatnagar and Jubilee Hills, Jaganmohan Achary, said, “The darshan went off very well this year. Around 38,000 devotees visited the Himayatnagar temple while 35,000 made it to the Jubilee Hills one.”