Padmavati rides palanquin, ‘Gaja Vahanam’ on fifth day of Karthika Brahmotsavam

The processional idol of Goddess Padmavati being carried on a palanquin as part of the annual Karthika Brahmotsavam, at Tiruchanur temple in Tirupati on Monday.
| Photo Credit: K. V. Poornachandra Kumar

The processional idol of Goddess Padmavati was paraded on a flower-bedecked palanquin at the Tiruchanur temple on Monday morning, the fifth day of the ongoing annual Karthika Brahmotsavam. Dressed as ‘Mohini’, the deity was seated on the palanquin as part of the ‘Mohini Avataram’ event.

The fifth day is quite important in the temple’s nine-day itinerary, as the deity is paraded on ‘Gaja Vahanam’, which is as important as the ‘Garuda Vahanam’ for Lord Venkateswara.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) management brought the famous ‘Lakshmi Kasula Haram’, which is generally adorned to the presiding deity, ‘Moolavirat’, of Sri Venkateswara at Tirumala, all the way to Tiruchanur to be adorned to the processional idol of Goddess Padmavati during the ‘Gaja Vahanam’.

Tiruchanur turned out to be a beehive of activity in the evening, when the ‘Gaja Vahana Seva’ attracted thousands of devotees to the temple.

Umbrellas donated

Meanwhile, two huge umbrellas used for temple processions were donated by Sri Ramanuja Kainkarya Trust of Tiruninravur in Chennai. The trust’s representatives formally handed over the umbrellas to the TTD Chairman B.R. Naidu on Monday.