GUNTUR: Sri Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple, one of the oldest Vaishnavite temples in the country, is gearing up for the annual Vaikunta Ekadasi festival in Mangalagiri. The temple authorities are making elaborate arrangements, as the festival is being celebrated in a grand manner after two years.
Every year, the department performs special pujas during the festival and pilgrims arrive to have darshan of the presiding deity, Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy from Uttara Simhadwaram from 4 am on January 2. Due to the pandemic, the festivals were confined to temple premises for the past two years. But, this year, the officials have planned to conduct Utsavam and all other rituals as per tradition.
The 11 storeyed Gali gopuram is decorated on Ekadasi and temple priests offer teertham through golden dakshinavarti shankh to devotees. The officials are expecting that over one lakh devotees might visit the temple and have set up 5 km long queue lines along with special ticket counters for people with special needs.
The officials also informed that 25,000 laddu prasadams are being prepared for the auspicious day. MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy inspected arrangements and instructed the officials to work in coordination to make the festival celebrations successful.