Simhachalam Chandanotsavam

Team Andhra Gazette

Visakhapatnam: The annual Chandanotsavam festival at the Simhachalam Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple concluded with a massive surge of devotees on Monday. At least 1.5 lakh people witnessed the Nijaroopa Darshan (true form) of the deity, which is only visible once a year when the sandalwood paste is removed. Devotees from various parts of Telugu states and neighboring Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal participated in the anual celestial festival with traditional gaiety and religious fervour in the wee hours of Monday. Following some challenges in previous years, the 2026 festival is marked by a significant shift toward technology-driven crowd management and enhanced devotee comfort. For the first time, the district admnistration have used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor crowd density and flow in real-time. This is supported by a dedicated command and control center and extensive drone surveillance for traffic management.

Simhachalam Chandanotsavam: Simhachalam temple hereditary trustee and Governor of Goa Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju along with his family presented the silk robes on behalf the Vizianagaram dynasty and had the first Nijaroopa Darshan of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. On this occasion, he accorded traditional welcome from the temple priests and committee members. Later, the temple authorities allowed the devotees for Nijaroopa Darshan.

Simhachalam Chandanotsavam: Andhra Pradesh home minister Vangalapudi Anitha presented the silk robes to the deity on behalf of the government. Ministers Kondapalli Srinivas, and Kollu Ravindra, AP TDP chief Palla Srinivasa Rao, AP BJP chief P.V.N. Madhav, MLAs, MLCs, district collector Abhishikth Kishore, City Police Commissioner Shanka Brata Bagchi, and other district officials had darshan of the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy.

The deity is covered in sandalwood throughout the year and only on Vaisakhi Suddha Tadiya (Akshaya Tritiya) Nijarupa darshan of the deity is allowed. After the conclusion of the daily rituals on Monday, temple priests removed the sandalwood paste, a procedure that took three hours. After performing abhishekam and special rituals, archakas allowed devotees to have darshan. A large number of people were seen waiting in queue lines even before midnight.

District collector Abhishikth Kishore himself regulated movement of devotees in queue lines and inquired the devotees about the arrangements. At least 300 special buses were run to ferry devotees from parking spots and foothills to the hilltop. As many as 2,800 police personnel were deployed to oversee the arrangements. Parking slots for private vehicles at Simhachalam foothill eased the congestion on top of the hill. Apart from the temple authorities, several NGOs and voluntary organizations distributed buttermilk and water to devotees standing in queue lines.

Also Read: టీడీపీ డైవర్షన్ పాలిటిక్స్ పై చిన్న శ్రీను ఆగ్రహం