TIRUMALA: The annual Pushpa Yagam festival went off in a grand manner at the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara here on Wednesday.The rituals were performed at the Sampangi prakaram inside the temple. The processional deity of Lord Malayappa swamy along with His two divine consorts, was seated atop a golden altar while the priests ceremoniously conducted the floral festival.
In addition to the traditional flowers such as rose, sampangi, ganneri, mollalu, lillies and chamanti, conventional leaves like Tulasi, Bilwam, Maruvam and davanam were also used.In all, about nine tonnes of aromatic flowers of varied hues is estimated to have gone into the conduct of the yagam. The priests offered floral ‘Ahuitis’ to the deities as a battery of Vedic scholars recited the extracts from sacred texts.
Each time the floral mound that was formed in course of offering of flowers touched the divine chin of the deities, they were ceremoniously cleared by the temple priests and the spiritual exercise was repeated until the festival reached its crescendo.
Earlier in the morning ‘Snapana Thirumanjanam’ was conducted to the deities. The flowers were procured from various parts of the country under the Pushpa Kainkaryam scheme.The festival which also finds a reference in the famous keerthanas of the saint poet Tallapaka Annamacharya is believed to have been in vogue in the fifteenth century and was revived in the year 1980 after a brief disruption.Over 28 varieties of flowers mostly bright and aromatic in nature were ceremoniously offered to the deity and his two divine consorts inside the temple.
According to mythology, the ritual was conducted periodically appeasing the Lord to protect earth from natural calamities. Earlier Tirumala JEO KS Sreenivasa Raju, Temple Dy EO Harindranath and Garden Department Deputy Director Srinivasulu carried the flowers used in the yagam from the garden office to the main temple in a grand procession.TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal also took part in the festival.