Vijayawada: The Kanaka Durga Temple on Indrakeeladri hill in Vijayawada witnessed an unprecedented surge of devotees during this year’s Dasara celebrations. Temple authorities estimated that over 15.9 lakh devotees had darshan of Goddess Kanakadurga during the 11-day festivities. Even after Vijayadashami, devotees continued to arrive in large numbers, and officials expect the count to cross 18 lakh as the flow persists.Temple authorities said that as of 5 pm on Saturday, over 1.27 lakh devotees already visited the temple. The Dasara celebrations at Kanaka Durga Temple—considered the second largest temple in Andhra Pradesh—hold immense cultural and spiritual importance. The Andhra Pradesh govt has been officially organising these celebrations as a state festival for the past 11 years, and this year’s turnout surpassed all previous records.Officials attributed the massive crowd partly to the Stree Shakti free bus travel scheme for women, which enabled lakhs of devotees to reach Vijayawada conveniently. The recently held Vijayawada Utsav also helped attract devotees from across the state. During the first eight days of the festival, over nine lakh devotees had darshan, while on Moola Nakshatra day, the crowd peaked with 2.2 lakh devotees. On Durgashtami and Mahishasura Mardhini alankaram days, over one lakh devotees visited daily.The temple was filled with devotees dressed in traditional red robes, symbolising Goddess Bhavani’s worship. Despite the heavy rush, temple authorities ensured that devotees could complete darshan within two to three hours by streamlining queues and prioritising general visitors.Meanwhile, temple revenue from laddu prasadam sales, darshan, seva tickets, and others saw a steep decline—from ₹6.5 crore last year to ₹5.64 crore this year—due to the cancellation of ₹500 special darshan tickets. The counting of hundi collections and offerings will begin on Wednesday.
