Giripradakshina begins at Simhachalam

Visakhapatnam: Thousands of devotees began Giripradakshina of the Simhachalam hill temple on Tuesday morning, on the eve of Guru Poornima.

Their number is expected to swell to nearly four lakh or more by the time they complete the 32 k.m. trek around the hill and queue up for darshan of Lord Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swami, the presiding deity of the city on Wednesday as more and more are likely to join from the neighbouring regions to take up the arduous journey as the day progresses.

A rath yatra was held at the temple in the afternoon in which colourful cultural troupes took part.The Simhachalam devasthanam made elaborate arrangements for devotees all along the route by providing drinking water, toilets, and several NGOs were seen serving them snacks and butter milk.Though there was a light drizzle in the morning, weather improved soon and turned out to be pleasant. Police security was also beefed up along the route to prevent any untoward incident.