Chennai: On the 20th day and third Saturday of Lord Athi Varadar giving public darshan today, the Almighty was decked up in orange colour silk robes and beautiful flowers.
Due to the heavy inflow of devotees, the district administration today issued an appeal, requesting senior citizens, pregnant women and those with health issues not to come to the temple town for the festival.
But still, devotees continued to pour in to have the darshan of Athi Varadar as Saturday is considered auspicious for Him.
The idol of Athi Varadar was taken out of the Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple tank and kept in the Vasantha Mandapam for public darshan on 1 July 2019. The festival is celebrated once in 40 years.
With all media awash with news about Athi Varadar, the crowds have been swelling with every day, leading to some tragic accidents.
So, the district administration has now got down to regulating the crowd like in Tirupati and sending them in batches. Traffic is halted 3 km from the temple and people can be seen walking down the road chanting ‘Govinda, Govinda’ and ‘Narayana, Narayana’.
Photos / video: D Sundar
