Hyderabad, April 17 (IANS) Grandeur and religious fervour marked the celestial wedding of Lord Rama with his consort Sita at Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam town of Telangana on the occasion of Rama Navami on Wednesday.

Thousands of devotees participated in the annual mega-religious event.

Devotees from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh took part in the celestial wedding (Sitarama Kalyanam).

The celebrations were held in a grand way in the traditional manner with the famous temple being decked up for the special occasion.

A group of priests performed elaborate rituals to mark the celestial celebrations. Priests performed rituals associated with Sitarama Kalyanam. Thousands of devotees watched the annual event at Mithila Stadium.

Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari offered ‘pattu vastralu’ (silk clothes) and ‘mutyala talambralu’ (pearl necklaces) to the deities on behalf of the state government.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers P. Srinivas Reddy, Konda Surekha, public representatives and district collectors of Khammam and Bhadradri kothagudem districts participated in the annual event.

Earlier, some rituals were performed in the main temple and later the deities were brought to the temple in a procession.

The endowments department put up tents for devotees to protect them from the scorching sun.

The area around the stadium was divided into 24 sectors with barricading for the devotees to watch the celestial wedding.

The endowments department had set up counters to provide Muthyala talambralu and laddus to devotees.

The temple authorities prepared two lakh packets of ‘prasadam’ for distribution among devotees.

More than 2,000 policemen were deployed as part of the security arrangements at the temple. Police were guiding devotees with QR code to avoid traffic problems.

The event was telecast live after the Election Commission of India (ECI) gave the permission.

It had laid down the conditions that all the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) are followed and no political mileage is derived from the live telecast.

Endowments minister Konda Surekha had requested the ECI to accord permission for the live telecast of the celestial wedding, which has been going on uninterruptedly for the last 40 years.

The minister had urged the ECI to consider the request stating that devotees in foreign countries also follow live-telecast with great fervour.