Devotees will not be allowed for early morning darshans at major temples in Coimbatore district for the ‘Vaikunta Ekadasi’ festival on Friday to prevent overcrowding as part of COVID-19 precautionary measures.
Senior officials from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department in Coimbatore said on Thursday that rituals at Aranganathaswamy Temple in Karamadai will begin at around 4 a.m. and the opening of Sorgavaasal, the main event of the festival, will occur at 5.30 a.m. The temple will remain closed for devotees during these events and the rituals will be conducted in the temple premises in adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the State government. The procession of the deities will be held inside the temple and there will be no veedhi purappadu (procession on the streets), the officials noted.
However, devotees will be allowed for regular darshan at the Karamadai Aranganathaswamy Temple from 8.30 a.m. on Friday as per the COVID-19 SOPs, the officials noted.
Similar restrictions will be in place for other Vishnu temples such as Venkatesa Perumal Temple at Parameswaranpalayam and the Venugopalakrishna Swamy Temple in Sullivan Street, Coimbatore on Friday. While the smaller temples in rural parts of the district have not imposed any restrictions for Vaikunta Ekadasi, they have been instructed to strictly enforce the SOPs for COVID-19 prevention, according to the officials.
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