72,000 ‘Bhavanis’ visit Durga temple

PNS|Vijayawada

As part of the relinquishment of Bhavani Deeksha, Bhavanees and devotees thronged the Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam, atop the Indrakeeladri in Vijayawada on Friday. The temple reverberated with the devotees’ chants of ‘Jai Bhavani’ and ‘Jai Durga’.Many devotees wearing red robes as part of the ‘Deeksha’, conducted ‘giripradakshina’ by chanting the Goddess Durga’s name. With this, all roads in Vijayawada have been painted. On the second day of ‘Bhavani Deeksha Viramana’, thousands of devotees thronged the Durga temple. More than 72,000 Bhavani devotees worshipped the Goddess and relinquished their ‘Deeksha’. On Friday, devotees were allowed to have the Goddess’ darshan from early morning 3 am to 11 pm.

On the other hand, the temple and police authorities have taken special measures to make devotees smooth and hassle-free darshan in the wake of first-day experiences. Traffic regulations were also implemented properly.On the second day, the temple earned Rs 9 lakh by selling Rs 100, Rs 300 and Rs 500 tickets and Rs 3,20,000 from ‘Laddu prasadams’. Likewise, 18,000 devotees had tonsures on the second day.

Meanwhile, the devotee’s rush is likely to be heavy from Saturday. Authorities are expecting above one lakh pilgrims on Saturday and around two lakh devotees on Sunday.