Simhachalam temple gearing up for ‘giri pradakshina’

The hilltop temple of Simhachalam near Visakhapatnam is gearing up for the annual ‘giri pradakshina’ which falls on 20 July 2024 this year. Authorities of the temple have initiated the preparatory work for the event in which devotees in large numbers will take part.

On the day, a full moon day in ‘Ashada masam’, devotees would trek around the temple covering a distance of 32 km. To mark the beginning, ‘pushparatham’ will start at ‘tolipavancha’ (first step to the hill) at 4:00 pm.

A special pooja is performed before the start of ‘giri pradakshina.’ There would be no ‘arjitha sevas’ on 20 and 21 July on the occasion of ‘giri pradakshina’.

Review meet

Meanwhile, Simhachalam Devasthanam EO S Srinivasamurthy reviewed arrangements for the annual event. He had a meeting with temple priests and officials of engineering and other departments on the arrangements. The EO directed the officers to work in coordination with the officials of GVMC, police, medical and other departments.

City Police Commissioner Shanka Brata Bagchi held a review meeting with his staff to discuss the bandobast arrangements. He watched the videos of the arrangements made at the Simhachalam temple for ‘giri pradakshina’ of previous years. Safety measures to be taken for the annual ritual were discussed at the meeting.

This article is written by Senior Journalist Lakkoju Nagesh Babu.

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