Thousands Witness Sita Rama Kalyanam At Bhadradri

Braving the hot sun, thousands of devotees from all parts of the country thronged the temple town of Bhadrachalam in the Khammam district on Wednesday on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami and witnessed the wedding of Lord Rama with His consort Sita at Mithila Stadium.

The holy town on the banks of the river Godavari was decked up radiantly for the annual event.

Vedic scholars performed the celestial wedding in the Abhijit lagnam from 12:18 pm. Devotees from across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other states offered "mutyala talambralu" (pearls and rice mixed with turmeric and saffron) to the celestial couple.

On behalf of the state government, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari and Endowments Minister Allolla Indrakaran Reddy offered "mutyala talambralu" and silk clothes to the deities. And On behalf of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Executive Officer Sambasiva Rao presented silk clothes to the divine couple.

Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Telangana Roads & Buildings Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, MPs Balka Suman and Sitam Naik, MLAs Badru and Bapiraju, and several others including their family members turned up for the occasion.

Though Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao could not attend the program, his family members - wife Shobha, grandson Himanshu and other members of the family - attended the wedding. Himanshu, too, presented silk clothes to the celestial couple.

Governor E S L Narasimhan will be attending the coronation (pattabhishekam) of Lord Rama on Thursday.

The TSRTC operated over 500 buses from all parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In addition, the South Central Railway also ran a special train between Secunderabad and Bhadrachalam to clear the rush of passengers.