Vijayawada: Goddess Kanakadurga, atop the Indrakeeladri, gave darshan to the devotees as Bala Tripura Sundari here on Thursday, the second day of the Navaratri celebrations.
On this day, girl children aged between 2 and 10 years are given new clothes and some gifts. Payasam is offered as prasadam on this day.
Bala Tripura is the first goddess in the Tripura Traya and is the main goddess of all in the Sriyantra. Thousands of pilgrims had darshan of the goddess since morning. Darshan was completed within two hours as officers took necessary measures, basing on the experience gained on the first day (Wednesday) of the Navaratri celebrations.
Deputy Chief Minister Chinna Rajappa and minister P. Narayana had darshan of the goddess this morning. Mr Rajappa spoke to the
mediapersons and said, “We are taking all measures to make darshan easy for the pilgrims.”
He also said that all the districts in north Andhra were alerted in view of the severe cyclone, Titli. Srikakulam district is the worst hit due to Titli, he added.
Minister P. Narayana wished people of the state on the occasion of Dasara. He said: “On the first day, 90,000 devotees had darshan without any problem. The state has to overcome the problem of poor funds.”
It is expected that 15 lakh pilgrims would visit the temple during Navaratri. Last year, 50,000 devotees visited the temple and this year, 90,000 have visited on the first day.
Krishna district collector, B. Lakshmikantham visited the Durga temple and had darshan too.
Temple EO V. Koteswaramma and Temple Trust Board chairman Gourangababu welcomed the ministers and district collector with temple honours. Film artist Prithviraj also visited the temple.
