3 tonne of flowers used for Pushpa Yagam ritual at Tirupati

Tirupati: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the official custodian of Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, conducted the annual Pushpa Yagam ritual, using a dozen varieties of flowers weighing three tonne.

The yagam which was held between 2 pm and 5 pm on Thursday, also featured half a dozen varieties of leaves.

"The annual Pushpa Yagam was held with celestial fervour at Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy temple in Srinivasa Mangapuram on Thursday evening. A dozen varieties of flowers of three tonne and half a dozen (varieties of) leaves were used to render a floral bath to the processional deities from 2 pm to 5 pm," said a TTD release.

Devotees and temple officials brought flowers such as roses, jasmines, lilies and others in baskets for the priests to use in the ritual.

Prior to the floral ritual, the temple body conducted Snapana Kalyanotsavam ritual and in the run-up to the event, it cancelled Tiruppavada and Kalyanotsavam.

On Friday, TTD executive officer (EO) A V Dharma Reddy participated in the monthly 'Dial Your EO' programme to receive feedback and suggestions from devotees across the country.

As many as 29 callers from across India dialled the EO and a person named Venkatesh from Gujarat enquired with Reddy about the procedure to renovate a 120-year-old Sri Venkateswara temple in the north Indian state.

/"TTD will construct or renovate the temple as per the request of Sri Venkateswara Alaya Nirmana Trust (SRIVANI) with funds after a team of officers from TTD visit the temple and verify the possibilities," said Reddy in a release.

A devotee from Manchiryala in Telangana, called over phone to find out about the status of the temple construction in his place. The executive officer informed him that the construction process would take place only after a thorough verification.

Reddy highlighted that the temple body initiated the construction of 3,600 temples in the past three years, out of which 1,700 have been completed and the remaining temples are at various stages of construction.