Ujjaini Mahankali Temple in Secunderabad decks up for Bonalu tomorrow
Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad is all decked up with colourful lights and flowers for the two-day annual Bonalu festivities commencing from Sunday. The commercial hub near the Temple an lanes leading to the temple are all lightened up with LED lights.
With Animal Husbandary Minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav looking into the arrangements for the festival, Civic officials had not only removed debris but also cleared the drains to prevent overflowing of drainage water. The temple committee has decided to have separate queues for women to enable them to offer ‘bonam’ containing cooked rice laced with jaggery and curd to goddess Sri Mahankali in a hassle-free manner. The Minister has assured the public that all the departments concerned were working in coordination to make the festivities a success.
The festival will conclude on Monday with ‘Rangam’ during which predictions about the future happenings in the country are made, which will be followed by a procession of a caparisoned elephant carrying a portrait of the deity. Smeared with turmeric and vermilion, potharajus dance to rhythmic drumbeats in the procession that pass through different lanes of Secunderabad and culminate at Mettuguda.
Bhadrachalam’s renovation of final draft ready
The members of the expert committee consisting of Agama Shastra Pandits have offered few suggestions to noted architect Anand Sai regarding the renovations for the Historic Bhadrachalam Sri SeetaRamaswamy temple.
Mr. Sai, a renowned architect from Hyderabad has been entrusted with the task of fine-tuning the draft master plan for the development of the famous temple in Bhadrachalam in the guidance of Chinna Jeeyar Swamy. He and his team has completed the draft a week ago and presented the draft before the Expert committee for final approval before presenting it to the Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrasekhar Reddy. The committees suggestions are more regarding the enhancement of the spiritual ambience while retaining the architectural grandeur rather than anything else.
The team after making the suggested changes is all set to present it to the Chief minister, who has sanctioned 100crores for the renovation of the historic temple.
Srisailam gearing up for Shakambari Alankaram tomorrow
The Srissaila Devasthanam, the shrine of Lord Mallikarjuna and Bhramarambha located on the picturesque hill top of Nallamalai Hills, near Krishna river in Kurnool District is a furore of activity for the Ashada Poorniama.
On Ashada Poornima, godess Bhramarambha shall be decorated with Vegetables as Shakambari Alankaram. There will be special poojas organized not just Bhramaramba devi but all the Saptamatruka’s residing in the temple premiesis and also the village goddess Ankalamma. The Devasthanam has made all the arrangements for the special pooja tomorrow with many volunteers helping for the smooth festivities.
Shakambari Alankaram has a major significance in Devi Bhagavatham. According to the legend in Devi Bhagavatham when the draught hit the region and many people dying due to the demons, Devi as Shakambari restored the region, hence praying on this day is belived to be good for rains and good harvest.
‘Arat kadavu’ concludes the 10-day festival at Sasbarimala
The Arat Kadavu ceremony, marks the culmination of the 10-day festival at the Lord Ayyappa templ. It was held with lot religious fervour at Pampa in the foothills of Sabarimala on Friday.
Hundreds of devotees thronged the foothills to witness the ceremony held at the specially prepared Arat kadavu in the Pampa river in the forenoon. The presiding deity was taken out in a procession on a caparisoned elephant from the Sabarimala Sannidhanam to the Pampa after the Ushapuja in the morning.
The chief priest, Kandararu Rajeevararu, assisted by the head priest, T.M. Unnikrishnan Namboodiri, the pooja. The deity was offered Ashtabhishekom, Manjal-neerattu, and Utchapuja at the Arat kadavu itself. The deity was seated on the Maha Ganapati temple precincts at Pampa till 3.30 p.m for devotees to offer prayers. A large number of women devotees too turned up to worship the deity at Pampa as entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 is not permitted in Sabarimala.
As the Arat procession returned to the Sannidhanam in the evening, The Chief Priest brought down the ceremonial flag on the temple mast, marking the culmination of this year’s temple festival.
GST gift for Tirupati prasadams
The GST woes for TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams (TTD) too, though it doesn’t effect laddu prasadam but shall effect some services like sale of gold dollars, accommodation and Kalyana Mandapams.
TTD Executive Officer AK Singhal said that on sale of gold dollars there will be 3 per cent of GST, room tariffs ranging between Rs.1000 to Rs.2500 12 per cent, those ranging above Rs.2500 18 per cent, and for TTD Kalyana Mandapams with rentals over Rs 10,000 GST will imply.
Speaking to the media EO has said “Additional outflow that TTD will incur on procurement of goods will be around Rs 32 crore and on pilgrim services front it will be around Rs19 crore . But since around 86 per cent of accommodation will be below Rs.1000, there will be no burden on common pilgrims”. The effect of GST on common devotees will be Zero.
He said that TTD’s estimated burden due to GST to the tune of 32 Crores, though Laddu is exempted the raw materials for the preparation of Prasadam will have the burden of GST. TTD has registered itself in GST.
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