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Devotees carrying ‘Velkavadis’ in Ongole on Friday.
| Photo Credit: KOMMURI SRINIVAS
The ‘Kruthika Velkavadi Mahotsavam’ was celebrated with fervour here on August 9 (Wednesday).
Observing ‘Mandala Deeksha’ for 41 days to propitiate Lord Subrahmanyam, devotees carried ‘kavadis’ of various sizes and shapes in a grand procession to Skanda Giri, the abode of Lord Kumaraswamy here. Devotees pierced their tongue, cheek and other parts of the body with skewers and carried ‘Velkavadi’ with reverence from the ‘Patha Sivalayam‘ in Keshavaswamypet.
Chants hailing Lord Skanda reverberated in the air as the devotees pulled a flower-bedecked massive chariot of Lord Shanmugha with his consorts Valli and Devasena. Devotees danced to the beats of drums.
The festival was celebrated to mark the Jayanathi of Balasubramanyam and raising of the divine child at ‘Saravana Poigai,’ said temple priest S. Krishna while distributing Prasadams to devotees who waited in a serpentine queue.
Special poojas were performed to appease the Lord. A community feast was organised for the devotees thronging the hill shrine by the local bullion merchants’ association and gold workers’ union. A large number of devotees witnessed a massive ‘Karthika Deepam’ lit by temple priest Subramanyam in the evening.
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