MANTRALYAM: Sri Raghavendra Swamy Temple in Mantralayam, which was affected badly due to the unprecedented floods, is slowly limping back to normalcy with a little over hundred devotees having darshan of the Swamy here Monday.
The temple was closed from October 2 to October 24 as mounds of mud getting deposited in the temple complex in the aftermath of the floods that hit the district recently.
“Never in the history the temple was closed for 22 days. This was the worst flood the temple has ever witnessed in the records available in the history of 468 years,’’ said temple executive officer Madhava Setty.
He informed that even now only the ‘Moola Matam’ has been cleansed and they are making efforts on a warfooting to clean the entire premises by the end of this month. ``The temple would be opened fully on November 1,’’ the temple executive officer said.
On an average day, the temple would witness nearly 50,000 devotees across the country but today there were very few people. The temple authorities maintained that lodges in and around the temple have not been functioning and urged the devotees to visit the temple only after November 1.
Meanwhile, to sanitise the shrine, Peethadhipathi Sri Suteethandhra Thirthulu conducted special poojas. He performed Sarvayagam, navagraha shantiyagam, goshanti yagam, Narayana Ashtakshara japam, Sudharshana homam and Samruthajana homam among others.