Chennai: To say all roads lead to Kanchipuram would be no exaggeration, as the temple town is full of devotees, actually in lakhs, for Athi Varadar darshan.
With just 10 more days left for the festival to end, people from various parts of the country are making a beeline to Kanchipuram.
The district administration and HR&CE Department have made additional arrangements to help devotees.
Owing to the unprecedented rush of devotees, darshan timings have also been extended by 3 hours: the temple doors will now close at 2 am, instead of 11 pm.
According to television reports, a local holiday has been declared for schools in Kanchipuram town 16 August owing to the Athi Varadar vaibhavam coming to an end 17 August. Also, darshan on the last day, 17 August, would end at 5 pm.
The temple administration says that there will be no VVIP or VIP darshan on 16-17 August as they expect the devotees rush to be phenomenal.
Today is the 38th day of darshan of the Lord after he was taken out of the Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple tank and kept in the Vasantha Mandapam,
It is also the 7th day that devotees can worship the Lord in ninra thirukolam (standing pose). He was seen in sayana thirukolam from 1 July to 31 July.
Lord Athi Varadar was seen in magenta and yellow robes and cardamom garland apart from strings of different kinds of flowers today.
Photos / video: D Sundar