Devotees throng Perumal temples in Salem and Namakkal for Vaikunta Ekadasi
The Hindu
Devotees flock to Perumal Temples in Salem and Namakkal for Vaikunta Ekadasi, with crowd management and police presence.
Thousands of devotees thronged the Perumal Temples in Salem and Namakkal districts on Vaikunta Ekadasi and offered prayers on Friday.
At the Kottai Alagirinathar Swamy temple in Salem, devotees waited from the early hours of Friday to enter the ‘Sorgavasal’. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department had made arrangements for crowd management. Drinking water facility, a medical team with a doctor, ambulance, and TNEB workers were kept ready near the temple, in case of emergency.
Over 500 police personnel were deployed in and around the temple on Friday.
Similarly, ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ festivities were held at the Lakshmi Narayanaswami temple at Second Agraharam, Venugopalaswamy temple at Chinna Kadai Veethi, Prasanna Venkatachalapathy temple at Pattai Kovil, the Soundararaja Perumal temple at Singamethai, Shevapet Panduranganathar temple, Namamalai Varadaraja Perumal temple, Udayapatti Govindaraja Perumal temple and Kariyaperumal Temple in Nethimedu.
Likewise, at Namakkal Aranganathar Temple, thousands of devotees waited in queue from the early hours of Friday to enter the ‘Sorgavasal’. Prasadams were distributed to the devotees after they offered prayers.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), probing the death of contractor, Sachin Panchal, who allegedly ended his life in Bidar on December 26 last year, arrested five persons, including the prime accused Rajkumar Kapnoor, a former member of the Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike, and reportedly a follower of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister, Priyank Kharge, on Friday.