Many temples in Andhra Pradesh closed due to solar eclipse

Vijayawada: In view of the partial solar eclipse or Surya Grahanam, almost all temples in Andhra Pradesh remained closed on Tuesday and daily rituals remained suspended for the day.

According to the Hindu almanac, the solar eclipse occurred between 5.11pm and 6.27pm -- the timings varying in different areas. Since Surya Grahanam is considered inauspicious in the Hindu faith and Sutak will be applicable from 12pm, the doors of all prominent Hindu temples were closed much ahead of the eclipse.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) halted darshan for pilgrims for almost 11 hours in the world-renowned Hindu temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala during the last solar eclipse of the year. The temple doors were shut at 8.11am and reopened at 7.30pm after performing sanctification rituals like Shuddhi, Punyahavachanam, Thomala, Koluvu, Panchanga Sravanam etc.

The other temples under the TTD including the Govindaraja Swamy and Kodandarama Swamy temples in Tirupati, the Padmavati Ammavaru temple in Tiruchanoor, the Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy temple in Srinivasamangapuram and the Abhaya Venkateswara Swamy temple in Appalayagunta also remained closed for the eclipse.

The famed Kanipakam temple in Chittoor district was also closed on this count.

In Vijayawada, the famed Sri Kanaka Durga temple on the Indrakeeladri hilltop was closed along with several other sub-temples in the shrine complex. Priests said the Durga temple was closed at 11am and would open on Wednesday morning at 6am.

Devotees will be allowed to have darshan of the goddess past 12  in the afternoon, after performing the Sannapanabhishekas and Mahanivedana rituals.

Further, all temples in Krishna, NTR, Guntur, Palnadu and Bapatla districts were closed for the day due to the solar eclipse. The Simhachalam temple near Visakhapatnam and the Arasavilli temple in Srikakulam district were also closed.

The Mallikarjuna Swamy and Bramarambika temple at Srisailam, Mahanandi and the Ahobilam Sri Narasimha Swamy temples in Kurnool were closed till the evening on Tuesday.

Deputy commissioner of endowments Vijaya Rao said nearly 2,200 temples in Krishna and the erstwhile East and West Godavari district were closed from 11am and they will be reopened on Wednesday morning.

The Lord Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Murty temple at Annavaram in Kakinada district, the Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Eluru district, the Ainavilli Siddhivinayak Temple and the Pancharama Kshetra temples and other shrines remained closed for the day. The Annavaram temple would reopen by 3.30am Wednesday after Samprokshanam.

The Lepakshi Sri Veerabhadra Swamy temple in Lepakshi in Anantapur district, the Gandi Hanuman temple at Gandi and Vontimitta, and the Lord Srikodanda Rama Swamy temple in Kadapa district were among the prominent temples that remained closed on account of Surya Grahanam.

Several mutts in Anantapur have performed Shanthi homam during the time of eclipse.

All the temples in Nellore and Prakasam districts also remained closed from 12 noon in view of the eclipse.

The major temples that remained closed include the Sri Talpagiri Ranganathaswamy temple, the Sri Raja Rajeswari temple, the Sri Venugopala Swamy temple, the Ayyappa temple in Nellore, the Sri Kamakshi Thayee temple in Jonnawada, the Penchala Narasimha swamy temple in  Penchalakona and the Sri Changala Parameswari temple in Sullurpet.