TIRUMALA: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which for the first time in the known history of Srivari temple kept open Uttara Dwaram also called Vaikunta Dwaram for 10 days, provided darshan to more than five lakh devotees, strictly adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.
The TTD Trust Board, which met in November last, decided to open Vaikunta Dwaram for 10 days starting Vaikunta Ekadasi (December 25) to provide hassle-free darshan for devotees on the auspicious days.
Till 2019, Uttara Dwaram used to be opened only for two days on Vaikunta Ekadasi and Dwadasi. The TTD performed Koil Alwar Thirumanjanam, ahead of Vaikunta Ekadasi, on December 22.
Vaikunta Dwaram of Sri Venkateswara temple was opened for devotees on December 25. The TTD issued 20,000 online tickets and 10,000 offline tickets for locals of Tirupati and Chittoor district a day, besides 1,000 SRIVANI tickets offline.
10-day darshan went off smoothly
On the first day, it provided darshan to more than 40,000 devotees. In the 10 days, the TTD Hundi netted Rs 29.6 crore. On Vaikunta Ekasadi and Dwadasi, the Hundi collection stood at Rs 4.39 crore. Nearly 21 lakh laddus were sold, while 5.12 lakh free laddus were distributed to the devotees who had darshan.
TTD Trust Board Chairman YV Subba Reddy stayed at Tirumala on Vaikunta Ekadasi and Dwadasi days and on January 1 and monitored the pilgrim flow. TTD Additional Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy, who oversaw the arrangements round-the-clock at Tirumala, said they had decided to keep Uttara Dwaram open for 10 days considering the request from pilgrims and after consulting heads of mutts and Agama advisors and ensured that it went off smoothly.
TTD resumes booking of marriage halls
After a long gap of 10 months, the TTD on Sunday resumed the booking of Kalyana Mandapams maintained by it across the country for weddings and other religious activities. Majority of Kalyana Mandapams are located in Telugu States.
As many as 300 Kalyana Mandapams are under active maintenance of the TTD. However, 45 mandapams are under renovation, including Srinivasam and Sri Padmavathi Kalyana Mandapam in Tirupati.