Celestial wedding of Lord Venkateshwara performed in B'lore

Bangalore, Jun 22 (UNI) More than two lakh devotees today witnessed the celestial wedding of Lord Venkateshwara, the presiding deity of the famous Tirumala temple, at the sprawling Palace Grounds here, held outside the seven hills in Andhra Pradesh.

Organised by the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD), the Kalyanotsava was held amid chanting of hymns by a large group of priests.

The grand ceremony was held for the benefit of those devotees who could not make it to Tirumala, where the ceremony was held daily, for various reasons, including the waiting period of over three years.

The three-hour event also saw scores of eminent singers sing sankeertanas penned by Saint Annamacharya in praise of the Lord, lovingly called Lord Thimmappa in Karnataka. Before the culmination of the ceremony, the Lord tied the knot to Goddess Lakshmi and Padmavati or Sridevi and Bhudevi, simultaneously.

Archakas (priests) from Tirumala performed the ritual. So far, the TTD had organised 50 such Kalyanotsavams outside Tirumala. All the devotees were distributed laddus.

Records have shown that Annamacharya had organised such Kalyanostsavams in the 16th century in the surrounding villages of Tirumala for the benefit of the villagers.

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