Venkateswara temple at Tirumala shuts doors for 14 hours due to solar eclipse

The  famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara atop Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh closed its gates for about 14 hours from 8:30 pm on Tuesday till 10 am on Wednesday on account of the solar eclipse that took place.

"We are open and running again," an official of the temple said.

"TTD has cancelled Sahasra Kalasabhishekam in connection with the eclipse on March 9 while other morning sevas will be performed in Ekantam," TTD earlier said in a statement.

According to the Hindu calendar, the solar eclipse commenced at 5:47 am and concluded at 9:08 am.

On Monday, around 80,000 devotees from all over the country thronged the hill temple on the occasion of 'Mahashiva Ratri'.