Temples Closed Due to Eclipse

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Lunar eclipse prompts closure of Tirupati temple

 

Hyderabad, October 17, 2005 1:10:11 PM IST

 

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For the second time in a fortnight, an astronomical event

forced the closure of the famous Tirupati temple and other

major Hindu shrines in Andhra Pradesh for six to 12 hours

Monday.

 

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the

affairs of the country's richest temple located on Tirumala

Hills, closed the temple for almost seven hours due to a

lunar eclipse.

 

The doors of the temple dedicated to Lord Venkateswara

were shut at 12 noon and were to reopen only at 6.30 p.m.

after a purification ceremony.

 

Though the duration of the lunar eclipse was from 5.04

p.m. to 6.03 p.m., the majority of the temples were closed

for the day after allowing morning prayers.

 

The temples had earlier been shut Oct 3 on account of a

solar eclipse. Pundits believe that eclipses are not

auspicious to offer prayers and conduct other ceremonies.

 

More than 50,000 devotees pray every day at the Tirupati

temple alone.

 

The other major temples closed for the day included the Sri

Sitharamachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam, the

Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada, the Raja Rajeswari

temple at Vemulawada in Karimnagar district and the

Saraswathi temple at Basar in Adilabad district.

 

Meanwhile, astrologers have asked the people, especially

pregnant women, to take precautions during the eclipse.

They also believe that solar and lunar eclipses in a fortnight

could trigger natural calamities.

 

An astrologer, Viswapati, had reportedly foretold that a

solar eclipse could trigger earthquakes and his prediction

came true Oct 9 when a massive earthquake hit Jammu and

Kashmir and Pakistan.

 

He said that the occurrence of a solar and a lunar eclipse in

a fortnight was a bad omen. He warned that earthquakes

could again hit northern India, the Himalayan belt, Iran,

Afghanistan or Russia.