Festival Begins with Sparse Crowds Amid Tight Restrictions
The sacred Vaikunta Ekadasi festival at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala commenced on a subdued note this Tuesday. Contrary to the usual massive gatherings, the first day of the ten-day festival saw a surprisingly low turnout of common devotees. This significant drop was a direct result of a multi-layered strategy of restrictions implemented by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the temple management body.
Factors Behind the Thin Pilgrim Presence
A combination of unprecedented measures created a near-fortress-like environment around the temple town. The authorities deployed a massive force of over 3,000 police personnel to manage the situation. Stringent travel checks were established with inter-district and inter-state checkposts to filter incoming devotees.
In a first-of-its-kind move, a widespread campaign was launched urging pilgrims not to travel to Tirumala unless they possessed a valid darshan ticket. For the initial three days of the festival, the TTD decided to issue 1.8 lakh darshan tickets exclusively through its online electronic dip system. This digital move, while aimed at crowd control, left thousands of traditional walkers in the lurch.
Impact on Traditional Devotees and VIP Influx
The online-only ticket system had a profound impact on a long-standing tradition. For decades, thousands of devotees from neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have undertaken arduous pilgrimages, walking hundreds of kilometres to reach Tirumala on Vaikunta Ekadasi and Dwadasi. This year, with the entire ticket quota exhausted online, many were forced to break their spiritual ritual and could not proceed to the temple.
While common devotees faced these hurdles, there was a contrasting scene of heightened VIP activity. Despite announcements that only self-protocol VIPs would be allowed and numbers would be restricted, TTD sources revealed that nearly 5,000 VIP darshan tickets were issued for the festival's first day alone. This surge caused significant logistical delays.
The VIP darshan slot, originally scheduled from 1:15 AM to 4:30 AM, was delayed by over two hours due to the overwhelming influx. This delay had a cascading effect, eventually pushing back the darshan timings for common devotees who had managed to secure tickets for Tuesday morning.
Contrasting Realities and Festival's Future Days
The first day of Vaikunta Ekadasi thus presented two starkly different realities: a controlled and limited access for the general public and a substantial, schedule-disrupting presence of VIPs. The TTD's experiment with strict online ticketing and travel advisories successfully managed crowd numbers but at the cost of displacing age-old pilgrimage practices. The focus now shifts to whether this model will be sustained through the remaining nine days of the festival or if adjustments will be made in response to the visible decline in footfall of ordinary pilgrims.
