Pushpachaleswara temple witnesses higher pilgrim footfall

Devotees lighting a torch as part of ‘Kartheeka Deepotsavam’ festival, at the Pushpachaleswara Swamy temple in Kadapa district.
| Photo Credit: K.V. POORNACHANDRA KUMAR

The Pushpachaleswara Swamy temple in Kotlur panchayat of Pushpachala hills in Vallur mandal in Kadapa district is slowly, yet steadily, drawing crowds.

The temple, believed to have belonged to the Kakatiya era, was renovated by the locals recently, and celebrated ‘Karthika Deepotsavam’ for the second consecutive year this time. Thousands of devotees converged at the spot for the Karthika festival, when a huge torch was lighted atop the hillock, on the lines of Tiruvannamalai (Arunachalam) shrine in Tamil Nadu.

Sri Ramarajyam Hindutva Chaitanya Vedika, a local trust that makes arrangements for the events by coordinating with the priests and visiting devotees, cleaned up the premises and also arranged ‘anna prasadam’ for the devotees.

“Thousand oil wick lamps were lit all over the temple premises as part of the ‘Sahasra Deepotsavam’, in which devotees from across the district participated,” said the trust’s founder and priest Ambabathula Andakonda Ramudu. He appealed to the government to improve amenities in tune with the rising devotee footfall at the temple.