Pushkaralu Rush Rising In Telangana, AP

The turnout of pilgrims at the Godavari Pushkaralu venues, already massive, is increasing with each day after day in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Even on the seventh day of the 14-day pushkaralu, the heavy rush of pilgrims at the pushkar ghats remains unabated. The pilgrims were pouring in at the ghats right from the early hours.

In Telangana, pilgrims in tens of thousands thronged the pushkar ghats at Bhadrachalam, Parnashala, Mothe, Dharmapuri, Kaleswaram, Basara, Pochampad, Mangapeta and other areas. After bathing in the river, the pilgrims formed serpentine queues at all temples for darshans of the presiding deities. It was after long waits that the pilgrims had their darshans at the temple in Bhadrachalam. Devotees also rushed to the temples at Dharmapuri, Kaleswaram, Basara and other temple towns. And several voluntary organisations organised anna danams for the pilgrims.

In Andhra Pradesh, the pilgrim rush was heavy at all pushkar ghats. The biggest crowds were seen at Rajahmundry and Kotilingala in the East Godavari district. Pilgrims also jostled in large numbers at the pushkar ghats at Kotipally Revu, Muramalla, Muktheshwaram, Ravulapalem, Antarvedi and other places in the East Godavari district. To help the pilgrims, the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam is distributing lakhs of food packets in Rajahmundry. In Kovvur, the local rice millers association and Arya Vysya sanghams are providing food to the pilgrims.

In the West Godavari district, too, thousands of devotees were bathing in the river at all the pushkar ghats, including in Kovvur, Narsapuram, Siddhantam and Pattiseema. All the temples at these places were thronged by the devotees who waited patiently in the queues for several hours for a darshan.

Governor E S L Narasimhan and his wife Vimala Narasimhan took the holy dip at the Mothe village under the Burgampad mandal of the Khammam district and at the VIP ghat in Rajahmundry, on Monday.

The rush at the pushkar ghats is likely to increase on Monday and Tuesday due to the holidays declared by the government of AP on these days.