Thousands witness celestial wedding at Telangana's Bhadrachalam temple

Hyderabad, April 6 (IANS) Religious fervour marked the celestial wedding of Lord Ram with his consort Sita at Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam town of Telangana on the occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday.

Thousands of devotees participated in the annual mega religious event, held amid tight security arrangements.

Devotees from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh took part in the celestial wedding (Sitarama Kalyanam).

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his wife Geetha offered ‘pattu vastralu’ (silk clothes) and ‘mutyala talambralu’ (pearl necklaces) to the deities on behalf of the state government.

Endowments Minister Konda Surekha and Chief Secretary Shanti Kumar also made offerings to the deities.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Chairman V.V.R. Naidu made the offering on behalf of TTD.

The celebrations were held in a grand way in the traditional manner with the famous temple being decked up for the special occasion.

A group of priests performed elaborate rituals to mark the celestial celebrations. Priests performed rituals associated with Sitarama Kalyanam. Thousands of devotees watched the annual event at Mithila Mandapam.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Minister P. Srinivas Reddy, public representatives and District Collectors of Khammam and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts participated in the annual event.

Earlier, some rituals were performed in the main temple, and later, the deities were brought to the temple in a procession.

The endowments department put up tents for devotees to protect them from the scorching sun. The temple authorities prepared two lakh packets of ‘prasadam’ for distribution among devotees.

More than 2,000 policemen were deployed as part of the security arrangements at the temple.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Governor Jishnu Dev Varma extended their greetings to people on the occasion of Ram Navami.

The Chief Minister prayed that the blessings and compassion of the Lord be upon all the people on the occasion of the divine marriage of Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy.

--IANS

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