Heavy rush of devotees on penultimate day of Athi Varadar fest

The event, which commenced with bringing out the fig wood deity of Athi Varadar from under the water in the tank in the temple on July 1 to the 'Vasantha Mandapamn' for darshan, witnessed a daily rush of lakhs of devotees.

After the festival and darshan for devotees draws to a close on Friday night, the deity will be placed in a vault inside the 'Ananthasaras' tank of the temple.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami said over one crore devotees have offered prayers to Athi Varadar ever since the commencement of the festival.

Lauding and thanking officials and staffers of all departments, particularly the revenue, for their hard work to facilitate darshan for devotees for well over a month, he said the government had ensured security and all amenities, including health care for visitors.

"In view of the amenities provided by the government, over one crore devotees offered worship to Lord Athi Varadar from across the country and abroad," he said in a statement.

Sanitary workers worked through the night till early morning daily to clean up Kancheepuram and it is highly appreciable, he said and appealed to them to stay put in the town for two more days in view of the work ahead.

The Chief Minister also thanked the district

administration, police department, donors, temple employees, priests, volunteers, National Cadet Corps and local people for their hard work during the festival season.

The over a month long festival saw pleasant surprises like a woman giving birth to a baby boy in a medical camp in the temple precincts after having darshan of the deity. The woman named her baby after the deity as 'Athi Varadar.'

Visitors had a tough time navigating through serpentine queues, which often took over a dozen hours, to finally reach the mandapam (where the deity was placed) and offer prayers.

Last month, four devotees who had visited the temple died in separate incidents after offering prayers, leading to anxious moments

There were also apprehensions of a stampede in view of the heavy rush and congestion.