Bhadrachalam (Kothagudem): The celestial wedding of Lord Rama and his consort Seetha was celebrated with religious fervour at the historical Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Temple here on Wednesday
The rituals related to the celebration started in the early hours when Abhishekam to mulavarulu, Alankaram and others took place. The festival deities were taken from the main temple to the beautifully decorated Nitya Kalyana Mandapam in the temple premises amid chanting of vedic mantras.
The priests performed ‘Vishwaksena puja’ followed by rituals like Mokshabandana, Pratisarabandanam, Yagnopavitadharana, Ashirvachanam, Pada Prakshalana, Maduparka Prasana, Kanyadanam, Godanam, Bhudanam,
At around 12 noon in ‘Abhijhit Lagnam’ the ritual of ‘Jeelakarra Bellam’ followed by ‘Mangalya Dharana’ performed as part of the celestial wedding ceremony. Later the priests performed ‘talambralu’ in a colourful manner.
The priests Amaravadi Vijayaraghavan and Podicheti Seetaramanuja Charyulu under the guidance of senior priest KE Sthalasai who performed the celestial wedding rituals narrated the significance of Sri Seetarama Kalyanam to the devotees.
Earlier, Minister for Endowments A Indrakaran Reddy offered silk clothes and mutyala talambralu to presiding deities on behalf of the State government in accordance with the tradition followed since the times of Bhakta Ramadasu.
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar along with his wife P Vasanthalakshmi also offered silk clothes to the presiding deities. Later speaking to the media persons the minister said he offered special prayers to Lord Rama for the speedy recovery of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who was tested positive for the coronavirus.
It may be noted that this is the second consecutive year that the celestial wedding was conducted sans devotees as against the tradition of celebrating the event in the presence of devotees at Midhila stadium at the temple since the time of Bhakta Ramadasu.
Initially, the endowment officials and the temple authorities planned to celebrate the event at Mithila stadium and even started selling tickets online. But in the wake of the fresh wave of covid-19 it was decided not to allow the devotees.
Following the covid guidelines, ‘Tiruveedhi Seva’, wherein the idols of the deities Lord Rama and Goddess Seeta used to be taken in a procession in the streets of the temple town on Chandraprabha Vahanam was conducted at the temple itself.
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