HYDERABAD: All temples across the city were closed in the wake of the solar eclipse on Sunday. The devotees were allowed only after ‘samprokshanam’, a purificatory ritual, inside the temple shrine and ‘abhishekam’ of deities. The ‘suryagrahanam’, the solar eclipse occurred between 10 am and 2 pm. After the eclipse got over, the priests opened the doors of temples and performed rituals such as ‘vishesha punyavachanam’, ‘dhupa’, and ‘deepa’, and offered ‘naivedyam’ to the deities. Poloju Narasimha Chary, an astrologer, who predicts the future based on the movements of relative positions of celestial bodies such as the sun, moon and planets, said, the closure of temples were mandatory to protect the aura of idols as sun might emit negative radiations during the eclipse.
“Even the deities placed in households should be protected from the negative energy produced during the ‘grahanam’ period by placing tulasi leaves,” said Narasimha Chary. Dr MV Soundararajan, the priest of the Balaji temple at Chilkur, said that the eclipse brings a lot of benefits. Spiritual energies grow during the eclipse as people perform ‘japam’, and ‘parayanam’, he said.
“Hindus take sacred bath in lakes, rivers and sea, and it gives positive energy as the eclipse is also the time when ‘amrutham’, a drink which gives immortality, emerged,” Soundararajan said. He added that charity works and ‘gauseva’ during ‘suryagrahanam’ brings good fortune. However, Chilkur temple was not opened to the devotees even after the eclipse in the light of unabated Covid-19 cases in the city. Meanwhile, Peddamma temple executive officer said that they allowed devotees for ‘darshan’ after conducting rituals as specified in Hindu sacred scriptures.
Devotees can visit temples from today
Rajanna-Sircilla/Jagitial: After the solar eclipse period ended, Sri Rajarajeshwara Swamy temple in Vemulawada, Sri Laxminarsimha Swamy temple in Dharmapuri and Sri Hanuman temple in Kondagattu, opened and performed purification of idols of deities. All temples were closed since Saturday night. Starting Monday morning, devotees would be allowed for ‘darshan’ in all temples. At Dharmapuri devotees took holy dip in Godavari river before and after the solar eclipse. It was the first solar eclipse of this year taking place on the summer solstice, the longest day in Northern Hemisphere.