The pilgrim town of Tirupati and the Tirumala hills on Monday turned into a sea of humanity with over a lakh devotees thronging the holy hills to have a darshan of the presiding deity of the temple on the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi (also known as Mukkoti Ekadasi).
With the unprecedented rush of the devotees on the occasion, the Tirupati-Tirumala Devasthanam authorities gave priority to the common devotees and restricted the number of VIPs allowed to have a darshan of the Lord bypassing the normal queues.
All the 64 compartments in the Vaikuntam I and II complexes were filled with devotees. All the nine sheds temporarily arranged in the Narayanagiri Park were also choc a bloc with devotees. The queue line extended to three kilometres. With this, the temple authorities diverted the queue lines to the galleries in the west and north mada streets. The Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam for Sarvadarshan pilgrims commenced by 3:30 am itself, half-an-hour before the scheduled time.
On the auspicious occasion, the presiding deity Lord Venkateswara, accompanied by His consorts Sridevi and Bhoodevi on either side, rode the golden chariot in the Tirumala mada streets. The devotees danced in ecstasy on seeing the Lord and his consorts riding the shining golden chariot in the morning sunlight.
The pilgrims expressed immense satisfaction over the hassle-free darshan, Annaprasadam and temporary shed arrangements. The TTD EO Dr D Sambasiva Rao and Tirumala Jeo K S Sreenivasa Raju personally monitored the arrangements at various phases and instructed the officials of concerned departments to see that pilgrims were not put to any sort of inconvenience.
Many VIPs, including Supreme Court Judge Justice N V Ramana, TTD trust board members, several legislators, MPs and cine personalities also had a darshan of the Lord. The holy hills were tastefully decorated with flowers and lights of various colours.