TIRUPATI: The Tataiahgunta Gangamma temple here witnessed a sea of humanity on Tuesday, the final day of the 'Tirupati Gangamma Jatara'. Since the government has declared the ‘Tirupati Ganga Jatara’ as a state festival, the annual folk festivities are been celebrated on a grand scale.
The seven-day festival ended early on Tuesday, with ‘Chempa Tholagimpu’ – removing the cheek of the clay idol of Goddess 'Vishwaroopam' in front of the temple.
Meanwhile, the entire temple area saw a huge traffic rush. The authorities struggled to keep the crowd under control. Throughout the day, the lines were clogged as a steady stream of pilgrims continuously arrived at the shrine.
The rush increased further in the evening and went on until late at night. Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, Mayor R. Sireesha, municipal commissioner D. Haritha, deputy mayor Bhumana Abhinay Reddy, temple committee chairman K. Gopi Yadav and EO Muni Krishna were present at the temple and monitored the arrangements. The temple authorities distributed food to the pilgrims at Indira Maidanam.
Due to the temple's old cultural ties that extend across its geographical boundaries, thousands of devotees from Rayalaseema districts and border areas of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka attended the festivities.
The Jatara began with ‘Chatimpu’ on May 9, followed by hundreds 'Veshams' on each succeeding day. On the final day (Tuesday) thousands of devotees flocked to the temple since early morning to offer prayers to the Goddess
