When the recently widowed Eduri Chinnama from Rameshwara village in Srikakulam’s Tekkali mandal could not collect enough money to visit the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala to have her hair shaved, she went instead to the newly built Sri Venkateswara Temple at Kashibugga — little anticipating she would lose her life there.

“When she refused our help, someone suggested she visit the Kashibugga temple on the auspicious occasion of Karthik Ekadashi. She had decided to fast until she had darshan and must have felt weak by the time she queued up. She was among the 3-4 women who fell when the railing broke and were trampled upon,” said Swami, a family friend.

The 58-year-old, whose husband had worked as a driver and farm hand, was one of nine people killed in the temple stampede Saturda

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