“RADHASAPTHAMI” WITNESSES SEA OF HUMANITY
Tirumala, 6 February 2014: The annual festival of Radhasapthami on Thursday witnessed heavy turnout of pilgrims with every inch of Tirumala being occupied by tens of thousands of pilgrims which replicated annual brahmotsavams. TTD has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the processions.
The pilgrims from different part of the country, thronged to get a glimpse of Lord Malayappa taking pleasure ride on seven different vahanams on a single day starting from sun rise to moon rise. The devotees who have been waiting in the galleries since 5am waited for almost 15 hours till 9pm to witness the grandeur of Lord.
The day started with Surya Prabha Vahanam which happens to be the most important fete that is being observed in connection with Radhasapthami. The Lord in the guise of Lord Surya Narayana Murthy took celestial ride on Suryaprabha. The first rays of the sun touch the forehead, chest and holy feet of Lord at around 6.53am. The Tirumala hills echoed with the “Govinda Namas” with thousands of pilgrims chanting the holy name of Lord after catching the rare glimpse.
This is later followed by Chinna Sesha Vahanam wherein Lord took celestial ride on the five hooded small serpent vehicle between 9am to 10am.
The next important vehicle on which Lord took celestial ride is nothing but his most favourite “Garuda Vahana”. The mighty of Lord is clearly witnessed on this pride vehicle.
Among the seven-vehicle procession, Hanumantha Vahana occupied the fourth place, where the lord seated on Hanumantha is taken on a procession around four mada streets between 1pm to 2pm.
The even was immediately followed by “Chakrasnanam” and the celestial bath has been rendered to Lord Sudarshana Chakrattalwar in the holy temple tank – Swami Pushkarini between 2pm to 3pm.
Among the evening vehicles, the divine tree vehicle-Kalpavriksha Vahanam occupied the next place among the series of vehicle processions.
The Universal Kingship of lord was once again explored with the Lord taking celestial ride on Sarvabhoopala Vahanam between 6pm to 7pm.
The Sapthavahana Vaibhavam concluded with the Lord Malayappa Swamy taking a pleasure ride on “Chandra Prabha” vahanam between 8pm to 9pm.
TTD Chairman Sri K.Bapi Raju, TTD Executive Officer Sri MG Gopal, JEOs Sri K.S.Sreenivasa Raju, Sri Pola Bhaskar, Supdt of Police Sri Rajasekhar Babu, Dist Judge, TTD Board Member Sri L.R.Sivaprasad, Temple DyEO Sri Chinnamgari Ramana, Temple Peishkar, Sri R. Selvam, Addl CVSO Sri Sivakumar Reddy and large number devotees took part.
ISSUED BY THE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, TTDs, TIRUPATI