Religious fervour marks celestial wedding at Telangana’s Bhadrachalam temple

Thousands of devotees participated in the annual mega-religious event. Devotees from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh took part in the celestial wedding (Sitarama Kalyanam).

Hyderabad: Spiritual fervour gripped the temple of Bhadrachalam as the celestial wedding of Lord Rama and his consort Seetha was performed on a grand note at the historical Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam here on Wednesday.

The celestial wedding was performed on Sri Rama Navami, celebrating the birth of Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu at Ayodhya in Treta Yuga. The rituals like Tiruvaradhana, Mangala Sasanam and Abhishekam performed early in the morning in the main temple.

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Later at 10 am the festival deities were taken from the main temple to beautifully decorated Kalyana Mandapam at Mithila stadium amid chanting of vedic mantras. The priests performed Tiruvaradhana , Vishwaksena puja and other rituals.

In ‘Abhijhit Lagna’ at 12 noon the celestial wedding ceremony was performed followed by a colorful talambralu event. The celestial wedding ceremony, witnessed by hundreds of devotees at Mithila Stadium and lakhs of devotees on televisions across the country, lasted for two hours from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm.

It might be noted that the Election Commission of India initially imposed restrictions on the live telecast of the celestial wedding on television channels in view of election code of conduct, but later allowed the live streaming as various sections strongly opposed to its decision.

Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari offered silk clothes and mutyala talambralu to the deities on behalf of the State government, a tradition followed since the times of Bhakta Ramadasu, instead of Chief Minister in view of election code of conduct.

Priests from Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu, Sringeri Peetham in Karnataka, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams officials and the heirs of Bhakta Ramadasu also presented silk clothes to the deities as per the tradition. The district administration set up 120 counters for free distribution of kalyana talambralu and 60 laddu prasadam counters. 250 quintals of kalyana talambralu were readied and arrangements were made to dispatch them to devotees through the postal department and TSRTC cargo services.

Lord Rama’s ‘Maha Pattabhishekam’ (coronation) ceremony would be conducted at the temple on Thursday. Telangana Governor CP Radhakrishnan would attend the ceremony.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Konda Surekha and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, endowment principal secretary Shailaja Ramaiyer, Supreme Court judge justice PS Narasimha, Multizone-1 IGP AV Ranganath, district Collector Dr. Priyanka Ala, SP B Rohith Raju, endowment commissioner Hanumanth Rao and Tridandi Chinajeeyar Swamy attended the celebrations.. –