Temple town Tirumala is witnessing a heavy rush pushing the time taken for the darshan of Lord Venkateshwara to about 48 hours on Saturday.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams officials attribute the massive devotee crowds from the past 2-3 days to the Dasara holidays and weekend coupled with the third Saturday of the Peratasi month.
“We are expecting the crowds to thin from Sunday onwards. The queue lines on Saturday extended till the Gogarbham circle which is around three kms from the Srivari temple,” a senior TTD official told DH.
TTD on Friday said that darshan is taking nearly 48 hours for the pilgrims coming in the Sarva Darshan queue line. The temple trust has appealed to the devotees to be patient for their turn.
Officials had to restrict the entry of pilgrims into the queue lines on Friday evening. They appealed to the devotees to take rest in the dormitories and come back on Saturday morning.
The devotee rush is continuing on the Tirumala hill even as the spectacular nine-day annual Brahmotsavam concluded with the Dhwajavarohanam on Wednesday night.
The celestial event was held amidst the common public, in the four sacred Mada streets around the Srivari temple after a gap of two years because of the pandemic.
On the most sought after Garuda Seva day alone, 81,318 pilgrims had the darshan of Venkateshwara while over three lakh devotees participated in the Garuda Vahana Seva.
TTD has sold 24.89 lakh laddus and the Hindu collections during the Brahmotsavams stood at Rs 20.43 crore.
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