Tirupati: Religious fervour pervaded the festivities of the auspicious ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ - the most important of all Sri Vaishnavite festivals - at the sacred abode of Lord Venkateswara Swamy in Tirumala on Saturday.
The doors of the heavenly ‘Vaikuntam Dwaram’ were ceremoniously opened at the pre-designated muhurtham by the temple priests amidst chanting of Vedic hymns soon after the conclusion of the customary rituals inside the temple. The Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam commenced after Dhanurmasa Kainkaryas at 1.45 am and the darshan for common devotees from 5.45 am onwards.
Vaikunta Ekadasi, also known as 'Mukkoti Ekadasi', is extremely important since it is widely believed that those who walk through the Vaikunta Dwaram – the inner-most prakaram encircling sanctum sanctorum – on this day attains salvation. On this occasion, the temple premises was colourfully illuminated and tastefully decorated with huge varieties of flowers adding more grandeur to the festival.
There was an unprecedented turnout of devotees. The town which began experiencing huge crowds since Friday morning was awash by evening. Both the massive Vaikuntam queue complexes, which can house more than 35,000 pilgrims in a single sitting, were full to their capacity. Over 55,000 devotees had darshan of the presiding deity and walked through the holy Vaikunta Dwaram until 6 pm on Saturday.
TTD Trust Board chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy said the pilgrims have given a big thumbs up over the arrangements made by TTD in the Queue Complexes and other waiting areas in Tirumala. He said that the temple management have commenced Dwara Darshan for common pilgrims at 5.45 am and efforts are on to provide Vaikunta Dwara darshan to over 8 lakh devotees during the 10-day festivities.
On the other hand, fervour marked the celestial procession of golden chariot organised at the hill town in the morning. The procession deity of Lord Malayappa Swamy flanked on either side by his two divine consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi mounted atop the golden chariot was pulled around the mada streets by devotees, especially women.
