On the sixth day of the nine-day-long annual Salakatla Brahmotsavams, the supreme lord Venkateshwara, was taken out on the 'Hanumantha Vahanam' here on Sunday morning.
The Brahmotsavam's sixth day is always slated to be the very next day of the Garuda Vahana Seva, which is the prestigious and most popular among all the Vahana Sevas. Sunday being a holiday, most of the devotees stayed back on Tirumala to witness the Hanumantha Vahana Seva too.
A number of pilgrims were seen awaiting darshan of the idol of the presiding deity at the temple in the morning and the queues were long. While it was taking 17 hours for a devotee to have a glimpse of the Lord standing in the Sarva darshan queue, the special darshan devotee had to wait for nearly seven hours for the same.
Hanumantha is considered as one of the ardent devotees of Lord Vishnu in his avatar as Lord Rama. He is also hailed as an exponent of all four Vedas, Nava Vyakarana and the destroyer of Lanka.
Hanumantha is considered as an embodiment of wisdom, physical prowess, success, bravery, health, speed, dynamism, fearlessness and commonsense. One of the hills on the Tirumala hill range is also named as Anjanadri. Hanuman is also known as Vayu putra of Anjana, born out of the power of 'tapascharya'.
As an ardent devotee who carried Sri Rama and Laxmana on his shoulders, Hanumantha's association with Lord Venkateswara, who is also an incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu is nothing unusual. It is said that Lord Sri Rama had shared the secrets of 'Atma Tatva' to his most ardent devotee, Hanumantha. The Sita Ramanjaneya Samvaadam is the basic theme of a Telugu poetical work of yesteryears, which clearly narrates the saga of Hanumantha.
Thus, the darshan of Lord Venkateswara along with Hanumantha is considered not only auspicious, but a chance to receive blessings with high intellectual connotations. "The appearance of both Lord Rama and Hanumantha is said to inspire the pundits for an extensive exploration of vedic scriptures and promote a righteous lifestyle" said Dr AV Ramana Dikshitulu, the chief priest of TTD.
Hanumantha is also described as Bhavishayat Brahma for his blessings make the devotees take to the path of spiritualism and help them lead a blissful, harmonious and content life.
Special lighting arrangements, toilets, drinking water, first aid facilities and ambulance were made available at the four Mada streets to provide a total view of the sacred procession. Cultural troupes comprising of dancers from all regions, preceded the vahanam of Lord Venkateswara.