The annual floral festival, Pushpayagam has been celebrated in a colourful way in the hill shrine of Tirumala on Thursday.
TTD has cancelled arjitha sevas including Tiruppavadai, Kalyanotsavam,Brahmotsavam, Unjal Seva, Vasanthotsavam on the day of Pushpayagam on Thursday.Following the birth star of Lord Venkateswara Sravana Nakshatram on Thursday in the holy month of Karthika, the processional deities of Lord Malayappa Swamy flanked by his two consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi has beenbrought to the Kalyanamandapam in Sampangi prakaram where Snapana Tirumanjanam was performed.
Later the deities were given a celestial floral bath with over seven tonnes of 18 different varieties of traditonal flowers including Chamanti, Lilly, Roses,Nandivardanam, Tulsi, Marukam, Davanam etc. As soon as the flowers touched the chest of the Lord, they were removed and again floral bath was given to the deities amidst the chanting of vedic hymns by pundits. After repeating the process for 20 times the priests offered Nakshatra Harati and Special Harati.
Hon'ble minister Sri Kanna Lakshminarayana, TTD board chairman Sri Kanumuri Bapiraju, TTD EO Sri LV Subramanyam, Joint EO's Sri KS Srinivasa raju, Sri Venkatrami Reddy, Chittoor MP Sri Sivaprasad, CVSO Sri MK Singh, Chief Engineer Sri Chandrasekhar Reddy, SE II Sri Ramesh Reddy, Garden Superintendent SriSrinivas and other officials, temple priests, Grihasta Bhaktas took part in this ritual.