By IANS
Hyderabad : Hoping for happiness and prosperity, thousands of people offered special prayers in all major temples across the southern state of Andhra Pradesh Tuesday.
The biggest congregation was seen at Lord Venkateshwara temple, India’s most famous and richest Hindu temple on Tirumala hills near Tirupati, about 590 km from here. People from various parts of the country gathered Monday to usher in the New Year and sought blessings from the Tirupati deity.
People stood in serpentine queues for hours to get their turn to worship. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the shrine, made elaborate security arrangements in and around the temple.
More than 100,000 people offered prayers at the temple, praying for prosperity and success in the New Year. It is believed that all wishes made by devotees at the temple get fulfilled.
From success in examinations and profit in business to victory in elections, the devotees, including celebrities and politicians, prayed for varied things at the Tirumala temple.
All major temples in the state were teeming with devotees since morning. Narasimhaswamy temple at Simhachalam in Visakhapatnam, Mallikarjunaswamy temple at Srisailam, Kanka Durga temple at Vijayawada, Satyanarayanaswamy temple at Annavaram were among the major temples where thousands of people thronged.
Men, women and children were seen taking part in special rituals like archana and abhishekam for divine blessings in the New Year.
The temples in the state capital were also thronged by large number of devotees. The youth were conspicuous by their presence in the prayers as schools and colleges had declared a holiday on the New Year’s Day.
“We have prayed to god to bless us with prosperity in 2008,” said Venkat Reddy, one of the devotees who with his family prayed at the Ganpati temple in Secunderabad.