The nine-day annual Brahmotsavam festival of Lord Venkateswara at the ancient hill shrine at Tirumala in Tirupati began on Tuesday with religious pomp and gaiety.
Marking the commencement of the mega festivities also called Navaratri Brahmotsavam, the high priest, amid chanting Vedic hymns, hoisted the traditional Garuda flag atop the sacred golden Dwajasthambham at the shrine.
Later, observing the age-old practice on the advent of the sacred spectacles, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, on behalf of the state government, offered a set of new silk cloths to the hill shrine.
Earlier, Reddy, before visiting Tirumala, also flagged off APSRTC-run state-of-the-art eco-friendly electric buses, first of their kind, to transport visiting devotees from Tirupati to the sacred Seven Hills back in Tirupati. -- PTI