TIRUPATI: The serene waters of the spacious, clean and tidy Padmasarovaram-the temple tank at Padmavati temple in Tiruchanoor turned into a sea of humanity on Thursday with about two lakh pilgrims from across the country visiting the shrine and taking holy bath on the occasion of Panchami Theertham.
With this grand sacred bath ceremony, the nine-day annual Karthika Brahmotsavams of Goddess Padmavathi, the presiding deity of Tiruchanoor came to an end.
The religious occasion of Panchami Theertham marks the auspicious birthday and celebration of the manifestation of Sri Padmavati Devi in a Golden Lotus in Padma Sarovaram on Sukla Panchami of Karthika month.
Snapana Thirumanjanam (celestial bath with milk, honey, turmeric, coconut water) to Sri Sudarshana Chakrattalwar and the processional deity of Goddess Padmavathi has been performed in a colourful manner in the tastefully decorated mandapam facing Padma Sarovaram.
The Goddess who was draped in a half white silk saree with gold colour zari and embossed work, appeared graceful on Her birthday in the asterism of Uttarashada on which Panchami Theertham is conducted every year, coinciding the advent of star.
The Goddess was decorated with the special ornaments made of large size emeralds that were brought from Tirumala shrine as a ‘Birthday Gift’ from Her Lord Sri Venkateswara. After the end of the hour-long ritual, Sri Sudarshana Chakram was taken into Padma Pushkarini for a holy dip at 11.45 am.
Thousands of devotees who have been waiting for this auspicious moment since morning took a holy dip in the temple tank as the entire premises echoed with the chanting of divine Govinda Nama and Goddess Namas.
Over 50,000 pilgrims have been served with free breakfast and meals in Tholappa Gardens, Ayyappa temple and at SV High School on the final day alone with sambar rice, curd rice and chakkara pongali. While over two lakh people were served Annaprasadams during all these nine days.
After the completion of the annual Karthika Brahmotsavams, the AP Governor ESL Narasimhan and TTD EO MG Gopal complimented the joint efforts of various departments of TTD under the supervision of Tirupati JEO P Bhaskar in executing the event in an efficient way. The EO also thanked the local public representatives and pilgrims for their cooperation.
Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ESL Narasimhan, TTD EO MG Gopal, JEOs KS Sreenivasa Raju and P Bhaskar, former TTD chairman K Bapiraju and special grade deputy EO Chenchu Lakshmi were present.