Varalakshmi Vratam celebrated with traditional fervour across Hyderabad

Hyderabad witnessed festive fervour on Friday as women celebrated Varalakshmi Vratam with traditional rituals and devotion. Temples and flower markets saw heavy footfall, while rising demand for flowers pushed prices up. Households were decorated with flowers, silk and gold.

Hyderabad: Households in Hyderabad were steeped in festive fervour as women celebrated the auspicious Varalakshmi Vratam with traditional pomp and devotion on Friday.

Dedicated to invoking Goddess Lakshmi, the deity of wealth, prosperity and well-being, the sacred festival brought the city alive with the rush of devotees at flower markets, serpentine queues at temples and beautifully adorned households with vibrant colours of gold, silk and fresh flowers.

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The wholesale and retail flower markets were packed to the brim since Thursday evening. Ahead of the celebrations, major commercial hubs and wholesale flower markets across the city, including Gudimalkapur and Jambagh, witnessed heavy footfall and massive traffic congestion.

Devotees rushed from the early hours to procure essential puja materials, leading to a sharp spike in demand for flowers. The heavy demand also fuelled prices, which skyrocketed on Friday morning.

All through the day, residential neighbourhoods echoed with the chants of sacred hymns and the all-pervading aroma of the preparation of Naivedyam, the traditional offering to the Goddess. Attired in their best, women meticulously arranged the kalasham, the sacred brass/copper pot symbolising the goddess.