VVIP culture turns harrowing for devotees at Simhachalam temple in Andhra Pradesh

After the Tirumala temple, Simhachalam is an important and famous shrine in Andhra Pradesh.

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People protest

Devotees from north Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh visit the temple for Chandanotsavam every year.

It is estimated that at least 3 lakh devotees visit the Simhachalam temple every year around this time.

Due to the popularity and importance of the Chandanotsavam festival, the temple authorities, local administration, and state endowments department begin making the required arrangements almost six months in advance.

However, all their arrangements appeared to have fallen flat on Sunday.

Devotees were seen picking up arguments with the security personnel throughout the serpentine queue all along the ghat road. It took them hours to have a darshan.

After the first darshan by the hereditary trustees of the temple — the Gajapathis of Vizinagaram — in the early hours of Sunday, there was a steady stream of “VVIPs”. who appeared to have obtained special visiting rights from local MLAs, ministers, and even senior civil servants.

Temple authorities also sold VIP tickets worth ₹1,500 each for the darshan. These tickets were sold in large numbers, and the ticket holders thronged the temple.

As the common devotees had to be stopped during the darshan of the “VVIPs” and the VIP ticket-holders, they had to wait in the queue lines for long hours.

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Seer weighs in

Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswathy of the Visakha Sri Sarada Peetham, who visited the temple on Sunday, expressed ire and anguish over the arrangements.

The seer is considered close to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and is known to fix auspicious muhurthams for him to begin any important work.

“I never witnessed such chaos in Simhachalam temple in my life. I regret coming to the temple to have the darshan of the deity today,” he said.

“The temple authorities have utterly failed to make proper arrangements for the common devotees to have a hassle-free darshan,” added the seer.

“It’s unfortunate that the temple is being run without a full-time executive officer for the last six months. They used to consult us every year, but this year they chose not to,” said Swaroopanandendra.

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The legend

Every year on the Thadiya day of the Vaisakha month, the presiding deity is believed to give darshan in his actual form, The deity is covered with sandalwood paste on other days.

According to legend, Prahlada, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, was being tortured by his father, the demon Hiranyakashipu.

Lord Vishnu, in the Narasimha — half-human half lion — avatar, killed Hiranyakashipu and saved the child.

Lord Narasimha’s rage was said to be so great that the deity is always kept covered with cooling sandalwood paste.

Only on Chandanotsavam is the sandal paste removed and devotees see the actual form for 12 hours before it is covered with a fresh layer of sandalwood.

The sandalwood paste is peeled off in the early hours and then special pujas and abhishekas are conducted on this one day of the year.

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Political reactions

The devotees also raised slogans against the temple authorities, the state’s Endowments Minister Kottu Satyanrayana, and Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana.

“This government has all the resources to conduct iftar events to please minorities by spending a lot of money, but doesn’t show the same commitment to making proper arrangements at temples like Simhachalam for the convenience of Hindus,” said Andhra Pradesh BJP general secretary S Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.

రంజాన్ మాసంలో గుంటూరు కార్పొరేషన్ లో అన్ని మతాల ప్రజలు కట్టిన పన్నులతో 20 లక్షల వెచ్చించి, అంగరంగ వైభవంగా రంజాన్ కోరకు ఏర్పాట్లతో పాటు విందు కూడా చేశారు మంచిదే!

హిందు భక్తులు పవిత్ర హుండీ సొమ్ముతో ఆలయాల వద్ద భక్తులకు ఏర్పాట్లు చేయడానికి దేవాలయ శాఖకు వచ్చిన ఇబ్బంది… pic.twitter.com/V5FruiFZei

— Vishnu Vardhan Reddy (Modi ka Parivar) (@SVishnuReddy) April 23, 2023

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu observed that such chaotic scenes never happened at the Simhachalam temple in the last decade.

సింహాద్రి అప్పన్న చందనోత్సవంలో భక్తుల ఇబ్బందులు బాధ కలిగించాయి. ప్రభుత్వం బాధ్యతా రాహిత్యంతోనే అప్పన్న భక్తులకు ఇంత కష్టం. దశాబ్దాలుగా లేని ఇబ్బందులు,రాని సమస్యలు పవిత్ర పుణ్యక్షేత్రాల్లో ఇప్పుడే ఎందుకు వస్తున్నాయి?దేవస్థానాలను వివాద కేంద్రాలుగా మార్చడం తప్ప.. మీరేం చేస్తున్నారు? pic.twitter.com/pW5e24JWw5

— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) April 23, 2023

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