Goddess Saraswathy on the back of a caparisoned tusker, accompanied by Kumaraswamy on ‘silver horse’ and Munnuttinanka in a palanquin, reached Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple here on Friday in connection with Navarathri festival in a grand procession, which was accorded a warm reception by Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, head of the royal family of Travancore.
The idol of Saraswathy was alighted and taken to Navarathri Mandapam, while in a procession, the idol of Kumaraswamy was taken to the Aryasala Temple and that of Munnuttinanaka to Chenthitta Temple.
The procession of idols in connection with the Navarathri festival, which began from the Padmanabhapuram Palace in Tamil Nadu, had reached the Neyyatinkara temple on Thursday and the Karamana Avadayamman Kovil by noon. The procession achieved its grandeur at Karamana with mounted police, seven elephants, ‘panchavadyam’ and ‘nadaswaram’ joining it. The procession was received at Karamana by ADGP R Sreelekha with a guard of honour by 90 rifle police personnel and three police bands.
The procession then proceeded to Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple and after main ‘pooja’, idols of Kumaraswamy on silver horse was taken to the Aryasala Temple and that of Munnuttinanka to Chenthitta Temple. The idols will be in the temples for 13 days.
On Thursday, on the state border at Kaliyikkavila, the procession had been received by Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Commissioner P Venugopal, after which the State police and the Tamil Nadu police jointly gave a guard-of-honour.
The city is all set to celebrate Navarathri festival with zeal.
In most of the temples in the city, various special ‘poojas’ and cultural programmes will begin from Saturday to mark the Navarathri festival. In Sreekanteswaram Durga Devi Temple, Navarathri celebrations will be held from October 5 to 14 with music concerts every day at 6.30 pm. In Mata Amrithanandamayi Math at Kaimanam, Sree Lalitha Sahsranama Archana will be held on all days.
In Iswari Amman Saraswathy Devi Temple, various programmes will be held till October 14 and on the first day, ‘Saraswathy Puraskaram’ will be presented to noted poet O N V Kurup.