Date:11/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/11/stories/2008021152940300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

TTD’s Bhakti Chaitanya Yatra enters Khammam district

Staff Reporter

It will cover 50 villages before reaching Bhadradri

Photo G.N. Rao

Welcoming the Lord: Artistes performing kolatam even as the Bhakti Chitanya Yatra reaches Bayyaram in Khammam district on Sunday. —

BAYYARAM (KHAMMAM DIST.): The TTD-sponsored Chaturyuga Bandham - Bhakti Chaitanya Yatra entered Khammam district at Bambarai – a tribal village in Bayyaram mandal, on Sunday evening. Large number of people thronged the village to receive the Yatra, which was on the spiritual sojourn to Bhadrachalam – the abode of Lord Rama. Impressive performance of kolatam by devotees marked the occasion.

The yatra would cover some 50 villages in the district en route to the temple town of Bhadrachalam. It is aimed at taking the Lord to the devotees at large, including millions of those who could not make it to Tirumala even once and those who stayed away because of the not so hassle-free journey, according to Penna Bhaskar, ratham executive.

Three rathams

It was one of the three Bhakti Chaitanya Rathams – Narasimha ratham representing the Krita Yugam, Sri Rama ratham representing Threta Yugam and Sri Krishna ratham representing Dwapara Yugam, that rolled down the road as part of their spiritual sojourn from Alipiri on December 20 last on the eve of Vaikunta Ekadasi. Over one crore devotees were expected to have had the darshan of the Lord as the rathams moved from village to village. The Sri Krishna ratham reached Movva Kshetram in Krishna district on Saturday while the Sri Narasimha ratham reached Simhachalam on February 4.

One of the three yatras led by the Rama ratham would culminate in Bhadradri on February 14, he added. The yatra was also intended to emphasise the importance of the Lord through the ages while promoting spiritual values.