{"id":2750,"date":"2016-03-07T05:36:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T05:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=2747&amp;preview_id=2747"},"modified":"2016-03-07T05:36:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T05:36:59","slug":"temples-in-state-gear-up-for-maha-sivaratri-festivities-the-hindu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=2750","title":{"rendered":"Temples in State gear up for Maha Sivaratri festivities &#8211; The Hindu"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div style=\"width: 646px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/multimedia\/dynamic\/02765\/06CDMVSHI-W023__07_2765135f.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"391\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devotees thronging Srisailam temple on Sunday.\u2014 PHOTO:U.SUBRAMANYAM<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"body\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Rikalahasti town is fully geared up to meet the heavy crowd expected to throng the shrine of Sri Kalahastheeswara, revered as \u2018Dakshina Kashi\u2019, on the most auspicious Maha Sivaratri day on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Minister for Environment and Forest Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, who is also the local MLA, presented \u2018Vastram\u2019 on behalf of the State government to the temple on Sunday. Accompanied by temple trust board Chairman P. Guravaiah Naidu and Executive Officer D. Bramaramba, the minister and his wife B. Brundamma carried the silk clothing in a procession, to be adorned the auspicious occasion on Monday. Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham has presented two garlands made of aromatic spices like cardamoms, cloves and vettiver (khus), to be adorned to the deity of Sri Kalahastheeswara and goddess Gnana Prasunambika. The temple is tastefully decorated for the major occasion of the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body\" style=\"text-align: justify\">At Srinivasa Mangapuram, the annual Brahmotsavams concluded with \u2018Chakra Snanam\u2019. The waiting devotees immediately plunged into the water, as taking a simultaneous dip is believed to rid one of all sins. Earlier, the processional deities of Sri Kalyana Venkateswara and His consorts were given a celestial bath \u2018Snapana Tirumanjanam\u2019. It was curtains for the annual fete, when the sacred yellow flag hoisted on the first day to signal the beginning of the Brahmotsavams was unfurled from the temple flag post in the evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The special feature of the Brahmotsavam was that the temple Potu (kitchen) prepared and distributed eight different varieties of Prasadam to 30,000 devotees everyday, besides meals to 5,000 persons through the TTD\u2019s Anna Prasadam Trust. The medical unit and SV Ayurvedic College conducted camps and extended services to 1,000 people, while 60 tonnes of flowers were used by the gardens department to decorate the temple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Meanwhile, at Sri Kapileswara Swamy temple, the deity of Lord Shiva was taken in a grand procession on \u2018Kalpa Vriksha Vahanam\u2019 in the morning and \u2018Tiruchi Vahanam\u2019 in the evening. As part of \u2018Maha Sivaratri\u2019 on Monday, the day will start early with \u2018Ekadasa Rudrabhishekam\u2019 at 2.30 a.m., followed by Bhogi Theru at 7 a.m. Common devotees will be allowed for darsan from 5.30 a.m. to 12 midnight. The Lord will ride his favourite carrier \u2018Nandi\u2019 at 6 p.m. to bless His devotees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/andhra-pradesh\/temples-in-state-gear-up-for-maha-sivaratri-festivities\/article8322100.ece?ref=tpnews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Temples in State gear up for Maha Sivaratri festivities \u2013 The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rikalahasti town is fully geared up to meet the heavy crowd expected to throng the shrine of Sri Kalahastheeswara, revered as \u2018Dakshina Kashi\u2019, on the most auspicious Maha Sivaratri day on Monday. Minister for Environment and Forest Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, who is also the local MLA, presented \u2018Vastram\u2019 on behalf of the State government to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}