Unclean ‘sacred water’ in Dharma Gundam irks devotees in Kondagattu

Despite  the scorching heat, lakhs of devotees from far and wide thronged the historic Anjaneya Swamy Temple of Kondagattu, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on Wednesday.
Hanuman devotees take a holy dip in the ‘Dharma Gundam’ at the Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Jagtial district on Wednesday | Express
Hanuman devotees take a holy dip in the ‘Dharma Gundam’ at the Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Jagtial district on Wednesday | Express

JAGTIAL: Despite the scorching heat, lakhs of devotees from far and wide thronged the historic Anjaneya Swamy Temple of Kondagattu, on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on Wednesday. As is tradition, thousands of people from across the State even walked barefoot all the way to the hillock temple, in the desire to have a darshan of the Lord.

Many of these devotees, however, did not return a happy lot. Though the temple authorities had ensured that facilities like drinking water and adequate prasadam counters are in place, an important factor was neglected that ended up irking the devotees.

For decades now, pilgrims who visit the temple have been taking a dip in the ‘Dharma Gundam’ before entering the sanctum sanctorum for the darshan and pujas. Dharma Gundam is a holy water tank in the temple, believed to have medicinal properties. This time, however, the water in the tank appeared less than sacred to the devotees who were attempting to take a dip.

For the last four days, the water has been visibly contaminated, and the authorities have done little to remedy it. It may be noted that due to an acute shortage of water, the authorities have been lifting water from downhill through pipelines. “How can we take a dip in such dirty water? The authorities knew that devotees will take a holy dip in the Dharma Gundam. Why are they not doing anything about this?” asked Challa Ramesh, a devotee from Mancherial district.

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