WARANGAL: Festive fervour filled the historic Sri Bhadrakali temple on Sunday as Navaratri celebrations began with special rituals and the presiding deity adorned as Bala Tripura Sundari.
The priests performed special rituals after decorating Goddess Sri Bhadrakali for the start of the 11-day festivities. The Endowments department made elaborate arrangements on the temple premises for the celebrations.
Warangal West MLA Naini Rajender Reddy and district collector Dr Satya Sharada, accompanied by their families, participated in the inaugural rituals and offered prayers to the goddess.
Thousands of devotees thronged the temple to seek darshan of the deity in her Bala Tripura Sundari form. The procession resonated with chants of “Bhadrakali Sharanam Amma” as scores of pilgrims took part in the festivities.
According to Bhadrakali Temple chief priest B Seshu and main priest Nagaraju Sharma, the celebrations will continue until October 21, concluding with the Kalyanam of Bhadrakali and Bhadrishwara at the temple.
The goddess will be adorned in different alankarams each day. On October 12, she will appear as Annapoorna, followed by Gayathri Devi on October 13, Mahalakshmi on October 14, Lalitha Maha Tripura Sundari on October 15, Bhavani on October 16 and Saraswathi on October 17.
On October 18, she will be adorned as Bhadrakali Mahadurga for Saddula Batukamma, followed by Mahishasura Mardhini on October 19. The celebrations will continue with Vijaya Dashami on October 20 and conclude with the Kalyanam on October 21. The priests said devotees would be able to seek darshan of the goddess in these special forms throughout the festivities.
Speaking to the media, Rajender Reddy said elaborate arrangements had been made for Devi Sharan Navaratri and that work on the Mada Vedulu would be completed soon. Efforts were also under way to organise the traditional Rathotsavam.
The spirit of devotion was accompanied by acts of service, with the Sri Bhadrakali Bhakta Seva Samithi of Warangal distributing prasadam to around 5,000 devotees. The samithi also arranged free meals for about 6,000 people on the temple premises. The distribution of food and prasadam was widely appreciated by devotees attending the celebrations.
Meanwhile, TGNPDCL Hanamkonda divisional engineer G Sambareddy dismissed social media claims of regular power cuts at the temple, clarifying that the supply had been suspended temporarily to carry out electrical safety works ahead of the Rathotsavam.
Sambareddy said the shutdown was temporary and arrangements had been made to ensure uninterrupted power supply and avoid inconvenience to devotees.
