Two lakh offer worship at Ramanathaswamy temple in Tamil Nadu

A record number of more than two lakh pilgrims offered worship at Ramanathaswamy temple in this island town since last night, temple officials said.
  
They said there has been heavy rush even though it is not the pilgrim season. Tourist buses and vans had queued up from here to Thanchimadam, a distance of more than 7 km, they said.
   
Thousands of pilgrims had to sleep in buses or vans or on the roads as rooms were not available here, they said.
  
Radhakrishnan, a hotelier attributed the rush to Christmas holidays.
   
The Temple executive officer S Elango said elaborate arrangements had ben made to enable pilgrims offer worship at the temple.