Telangana: Sri Rama Navami celebrated on grand scale in Vemulawada

Besides the marriage of Rama and Seeta, the weddings of Joginis, Shiva-Parvathulu and brides of Lord Shiva with the presiding deity was the important ceremony

Rajanna-Sircilla: The celestial wedding of Lord Rama and Goddess Seetha was celebrated with a difference and on a grand scale in the ancient Sri Rajarajeshwara Swamy temple, Vemulawada on Thursday.

Besides the marriage of Rama and Seeta, the weddings of Joginis, Shiva-Parvathulu and brides of Lord Shiva with the presiding deity was the important ceremony in the entire Sri Rama Navami celebration held in Vemulawada shrine.

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Considering themselves a bridge of Lord Shiva, they wore new clothes, jewelry and applied turmeric on their faces and vermilion on their forehead. Besides the ‘jhola’ containing ‘thalambralu’, Trishul (tridents) decorated with bright flowers and a bell, were also carried by them. During the marriage rituals, the devotees carried the tridents as the wedding was performed amid chanting of Vedic hymns.

When the marriage ritual of lord Rama and Seetha was declared completed by the temple priests, they sprinkled the ‘thalambralu’ on each other and declared their marriage with Shiva by applying ‘zilakara bellam’ (jaggery and jeera paste) on their heads before tying yellow thread carrying ‘rudraksha’ around their necks. The ceremony is called ‘Linga Dharana’.

A huge number of devotees from different parts of the State as well as adjacent states such as Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh thronged the temple town to watch the celestial wedding of Lord Sri Rama and Seetha.

The temple authorities had made elaborate arrangements for the devotees. Large LED screens were also arranged in different places of the temple town to help the devotees to watch the wedding ceremony.