Sunshine and Pilgrims Return to Tirumala Temple in Andhra Pradesh

Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh: For days, it rained doubts, concerns and rumours about the safety of the Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala. But, things are getting back to normal.

Described as the richest and most visited temple in the world, it sees millions of visitors every year. For two weeks, heavy rains had lashed the entire district of Chittoor where Tirumala is situated and inundated the temple town of Tirupati, 25 kilometers away, at the foot of the hills.

Images of the flooded areas posted across the social media had helped spread rumours that the temple was flooded and damaged. That compounded the effect of bad weather on the number of pilgrims visiting the temple.

Yet, the number topped 50,000 a day.

Executive Officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board, Dr D Sambashiva Rao told NDTV, "Adequate arrangements were made to see that pilgrims had no problems. Usually there are up to 75000 pilgrims a day who visit. There was some reduction in number because of the rain, but it was more than 50,000 even yesterday."

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Pilgrims who made the trip were delighted to find the temple much less crowded than normal. Apoorva, in her 20s, had come with her family from Aurangabad. "Many people had told us not to come - but we are glad that we did," she said.

It has not rained in the temple town since Monday and people there hope that it stays dry for a while.

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