Tirupati, July 24, 2013: The mass temple festival concept, ‘Managudi’ conceived by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) will be observed across 20,000 temples in Andhra Pradesh from August 21.

Addressing the third phase of review meeting of “Managudi” at Sri Venkateswara Employees Training Academy (SVETA) here on Tuesday, TTD Trust Board Chairman K Bapiraju said that the fete was being organised with the aim of promoting and propagating the values upheld by the ‘Hindu Sanatana Dharma’ for the future generations. He also said that over two crore kankanams (holy threads) will be distributed to the public on this occasion. The programme is conducted jointly by the TTD and the Endowments Department.

Executive Officer M.G. Gopal directed the Dharma Prachara Mandali members to identify and enlist the settlements without temples in Harijan, Girijan and Fishermen colonies. “We have to encourage them to take part in this mass temple festival with vigour,” he added.

Earlier, TTD Joint EO P Venkatrami Reddy enlisted the schedule of activities in connection with the fete. Before Managudi festival, programmes like Alaya Shobha (August 8), Dharmic discourses (August 11), Kumkuma Puja (August 12), Gopuja (August 14), Mass Varalakshmi Vratam (August 16) and Satyanarayana Vratam (August 17) will be conducted.

Principal Secretary (Endowments) Vinod K Agrawal, Chief Vigilance and Security Officer GVG Ashok Kumar, HDPP Special Officer B Raghunath and heads of other departments took part.

Source: The Hindu, Dt: July 24, 2013