Devotees congregate temple for 'Vaikunta Ekadasi' festival
Srirangam, Tamil Nadu,UNI:

Thousands of devotees from various parts of the country today gathered
at the historic Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, here to have the darshan
of ''Lord Namperumal'', the festive deity adorned with the famous
''Mohini Alankaram'' also called as ''Nachiyar Thirukkolam'', as part
of the ongoing 21-day ''Vaikunta Ekadasi'' festival.

The Mohini Alankaram was presented once in every year during the
Vaikunda Ekadasi festival to commemorate Lord Vishnu's manifestation
as a ''bewitching maiden'' (Mohini) to lure away the Asuras from the
Amirt (Nectar) produced during the churning of the Milk Ocean.

Lord Namperumal, attired in Mohini Alankaram, was taken out in a
procession from the sanctum sanctorum amidst chanting of Vedic hymns
at 0600 hrs this morning and arrived at the Arjuna Mandapam for public
darshan. The deity will be again taken to sanctum sanctorum at 2100
hrs, today.

The temple administration has made elaborate arrangements in view of
the Mohini Alankaram, which usually attracts huge crowd during the
festival season.

The Vaikunda Ekadasi falls tomorrow, in which the deity Namperumal,
attired in ''Rathina Angi'' (dress made of Rubies and precious
stones), would be taken out of the sanctum sanctorum during the small
hours and pass through the ''Paramapada Vaasal'' (gateway to Heaven)
followed by thousands of devotees.

Anticipating a huge crowd of devotees at the temple tomorrow, police
have made elaborate arrangements in and around the temple complex.
Over 1000 policemen were deployed for the security purposes.
Anti-sabotage teams had been deployed at the South, East and North
gates of the temple with door frame metal detectors to screen the
devotees.

The district administration has declared a local holiday tomorrow, in
view of the festival. 

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