PALANI
Marking the commencement of the week-long Thai Poosam festival, the holy flag was hoisted at the famous Sri Dhandayuthapani Swami Temple here on Friday.
The celebrations, which would usually draw close to a million devotees from far and near and from overseas, witnessed less crowd due to restrictions and guidelines in place following the covid-19 pandemic.
According to HR&CE officials, 25,000 devotees would be permitted for darshan of the presiding deity through the winch and rope car daily. The devotees should have reservations done online.
The highlight of the Thai Poosam celebrations would be the celestial wedding on January 27 at 7.30 p.m.
With the State government having announced January 27 as a public holiday, devotees have expressed happiness and the crowd was expected to be more on that day.
Though there was no exact count on the padayatris coming towards the shrine from various destinations, the police officers have appealed to them to avoid walking during night time.
Various people have been offering food to the padayatris enroute at mandahapadis. The temple authorities have been distributing face masks and sanitizers to devotees.
The police have installed special towers in at least 12 different locations for effective crowd management. The celebrations would conclude on January 31. The TNSTC had made elaborate arrangements to operate special buses from many southern and central districts to the shrine.
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