The TTD has planned to celebrate Hanuman Jayanti with a series of programs for five days from June 4-8 this year, as it does after the Anjanadri Hills declaration as the birthplace of Lord Hanuman.
Additional Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy briefed the media after reviewing the agreements with heads of various departments and said the celebrations would take place in the cave where Anjana Devi is believed to have given birth to Lord Hanuman in Akasa Ganga.
Rituals such as Abhishekam and ‘Stotra parayanam’ are performed in the Bala Anjaneya and Anjana Devi temples at Akasa Ganga Theertham.
The programs include religious discourses from renowned scholars, which would be followed by devotional hymns, he said. Festivities will also take place at Bedi Anjaneya Swamy and the Hanuman Statue on the seventh mile of First Ghat Street.
Mr Dharma Reddy responded to a question about the birthplace of Hanuman that the Pandit Congregation, under the direction of Vice Chancellor of Tirupati Sanskrit Vidyapeeth Acharya Muralidhar Sharma, has categorically proven that Tirumala is the birthplace, citing historical, geographical, epigraphic and other material Evidence, so there was no point in discussing the subject any further.
When asked whether the number of darshan tickets issued daily would increase, he said there were no plans yet. 5,000 online tickets are currently made available every day.