Devotees throng Srirangam temple on Vaikunda Ekadasi

Thousands of devotees offer worship to Lord Ranganatha at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple on Vaikunta Ekadasi day in Srirangam.

Spiritual fervour pervaded the temple town of Srirangam, where thousands of devotees turned out to offer worship to Lord Ranganatha at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi on December 23.

The entire temple complex of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple resonated with ‘ranga, ranga and govinda, govinda’ chants of devotees who gathered in large numbers from near and far to have a darshan of Sri Namperumal on the auspicious Ekadasi day in the Tamil month of Marghazhi.

Clad in ‘Ratnangi,’ Sri Namperumal passed through the Paramapada Vasal, which opened at 4 am. The processional deity left the ‘Moolasthanam’ at 3 a.m. and was taken in a procession amid chants of thousands of devotees lined up in the praharams. The procession went through Raja Mahendran Tiruchutru and Kulasekaran Tiruchutru and reached the ‘Vraja Nadhi Mandapam’, where the deity halted for some time.

Scholars and priests rendered hymns from Vedas at ‘Vraja Nadhi Mandapam’, which was decorated with flowers. After passing through the ‘Paramapada Vaasal’ Sri Namperumal was taken to the Thirumamani Asthana Mandapam inside the Thousand Pillar Mandapam.

The opening of ‘Paramapadha Vaasal’ on Ekadasi day is the highlight of the 21-day Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at Srirangam temple, the foremost of 108 Divyadesams. Devotees stood in long queues since Friday night to offer worship to Lord Ranganathar and Sri Namperumal.

Police stepped up security inside and outside the temple and deployed additional personnel at various spots to regulate the movement of devotees in queues. The police thoroughly frisked the devotees before letting them inside the temple. Traffic diversions were put in place by the police and barricades were erected to regulate vehicular movement.

Collector M. Pradeep Kumar; Commissioner of Police, Tiruchi City, N. Kamini; Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tiruchi Range, P. Pakalavan; Corporation Commissioner R. Vaithinathan were present.