DHARMAPURI: Following the advice of a local priest and many out of their own interest, over 1,500 people from the villages of Mukkalnayakkanpatti Panchayat in Dharmapuri are on a pilgrimage to the Tirumala.
Very few have stayed back, and only to look after the livestock. Police have been deployed in the Panchayat to prevent theft.
When The Sunday Standard visited Mukkalnayakkanpatti, a remote village panchayat on the foothills of Vathalamalai, it was deserted. With a population of 3,000 people, more than half of the villagers were on the pilgrimage it seemed.
Questioned on the veracity of the priest's advice, Muthu, a villager who stayed back, said: “Fifteen years ago, severe drought prevailed here. At that time, the local priest had asked the whole village to go to Tirupati. So we had taken out a pilgrimage. Now also everyone has come together to go to Tirupati.” Residents of 10 villages have travelled to Tirupati in 15 buses.