Visakhapatnam's Giri Pradakshina draws nearly 6L devotees on 32km trek
India
Visakhapatnam's annual Giri Pradakshina was packed this year, with nearly six lakh people walking the 32-kilometer route around the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple. That's almost twice as many as last year!
The event kicked off Tuesday evening from Tholi Pavancha, and despite the long trek, devotees powered through, taking quick breaks before heading to the temple for darshan or back to pray.
Busses packed, traffic slowed, 5.8L counted
With so many people, traffic slowed down in hotspots like Gopalapatnam and Simhachalam by early Wednesday.
Busses were stuffed during the return journey, so some folks switched to autos just to get home.
By 5am Wednesday, officials counted over 5.8 lakh participants, making it one of the biggest turnouts ever for this much-loved ritual.