Lakhs witness Ratha Sapthami Vahana seva in Tirumala

The bright sunny day on Tuesday witnessed the first rays of Sun Lord touching the holy feet, chest and the forehead of Sri Suryanarayana Murthy in Tirumala during Surya Prabha Vahanam as a part of Radhasapthami.

The vahana seva commenced at 5.30 am and glided swiftly across the four mada streets. All the 175 galleries were almost jam-packed by 5 am itself.

About 2000 sevakulu were deployed on four mada streets to provide anna prasadam, drinking water and manning the pilgrim crowd during the procession of vahanams. About 1000 scouts and guides also pressed into service to streamline the pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Sri Malayappa Swamy took a celestial ride on seven vahanams the entire day with chakra snanam between 2 pm and 3 pm. The morning vahanams included Surya Prabha between 5.30 am and 8 am, Chinna Sesha between 9 am and 10 am, Garuda Vahanam between 11 am and 12 noon, Hanumantha Vahanam between 1 pm and 2 pm.

The evening vahana sevas include Kalpavrikshavahana between 4 pm and 5 pm, Sarvabhupala between 6 pm and 7 pm and concluded with Chandra prabha vahanam between 8 pm and 9 pm.

Each mada street is monitored by a senior officer, reputation staffs to ensure hassle-free arrangements to pilgrims. The arrangements are reviewed and inspected at regular intervals by TTD EO Anil Kumar Singhal, Tirumala JEO KS Sreenivasa Raju and Chief Vigilance OFficer Gopinath Jetti.