Muslims sought blessings at a temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district on the Telugu New Year, Ugadi. On Saturday, the Telugu state celebrated the start of the new year. Hindus cooked ‘Ugadi Pachadi’ and visited temples around the state after rituals.
Muslims in Kadapa queued up at the Lakshmi Venkateshwara Swamy temple in Devuni to receive the Lord’s blessing at the start of the new year. The temple is 120 kilometres from Tirumala Tirupati, Lord Venkateswara’s hill abode.
Every year on Ugadi, Muslims in the Rayalaseema region believe it is customary to pay a visit to the Swami. ‘I am a resident of Chittoor, On Ugadi, I come here for prayers. For us, January 1 is not the new year, but Ugadi is.’ a Muslim devotee who came to seek blessings stated.
Another woman devotee stated that she had been visiting to the temple for the past eight years to give prayers. ‘For us, like Ramadan, Ugadi is also similar to Eid. We come here to pray to the lord, break coconuts and take his blessing. Our elders also used to come here on Ugadi and we follow the tradition.’ She said.
Muslim devotees stop eating non-vegetarian food in the days leading up to Ugadi. They offer the lord with rice, condiments, and jaggery. They think Lord Venkateswara married Bibi Nancharamma, the daughter of a general named Malik Kafur, in 1311 AD as their son-in-law.
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