The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has resolved to do away with certain arjitha sevas such as Sahasra Kalasabhishekam, Visesha puja and Vasanthotsavam and perform them only once in a year by converting them into ‘circar events’.

The decision was taken with the sole intention of avoiding the conduct of more ‘abhishekams’ to the idols to save them from erosion.

Statistics suggest that ‘abhishekams’ are performed to the idols about 450 times on an average in a year including the ‘ekantha thirumanjanams’ on certain festive occasions at the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara. Of these, the ‘abhishekams’ conducted during the performance of daily Vasanthotsavam, weekly Visesha puja and Sahasra Kalasabhishekam alone constitute to more than 415 times, which the TTD feels shall affect the longevity of the idols.

Anticipating the threat to which the idols are exposed due to frequent ‘abhishekams’, the TTD had introduced annual Jyestabhishekam (Abhidheyaka Abhishekam) in 1989 to contain the frequency. When the issue came for discussion in 2019, the TTD had resolved to stop the conduct of frequent ‘abhishekams’ to the panchaloha idols.

While the weekly Visesha puja, performed on every Monday, was introduced in 1991, the authentications by noted historians such as Dr. N. Ramesan, T.K.T. Veera Raghavacharya and Sadhu Subramanyam Sastri in their narrations quoting inscriptions available on the temple walls that both ‘Sahasra Kalasabhishekam’ and ‘Vasanthotsavam’ were not obligatory in nature, but performed once a year.

Sriman Pedda Jeeyar, senior pontiff of the hill shrine, as well as the five-member committee constituted to look into the issue also felt that there was an urgent need to save the idols from the danger of possible erosion.

Meanwhile, the temple officials welcomed the decision. They opined that the dispensation of sevas would add to more darshan hours, benefiting more than 5,000 devotees on the days they were actually performed.