THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annual Navaratri procession to the Kerala capital had a colourful start at the Padmanabhapuram Palace near Thuckalay in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Kerala’s Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran handed over the ceremonial sword to Sucheendram Devaswom joint commissioner M Anpumani marking the start of the procession. Union Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan attended the pooja held in the courtyard of the palace.
Kerala’s Archaeology Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran, MLAs C K Hareendran, M Vincent, Neyyattinkara municipal chairperson W R Heeba and Archaeology director J Rejikumar were present.
The procession carried the idol of Goddess Saraswati from the Thevarakkettu of Padmanabhapuram palace, that of Kumaraswami from Velimala temple and Munnoottinanka from Sucheendram temple.
The procession will halt at the Kuzhithura Mahadeva temple in the evening. The procession will start from Kuzhithura on Monday morning and will be accorded a warm reception on the Kerala border by the police, Devaswom and Revenue Departments.
The procession will halt at the Neyyattinkara Sreekrishna temple in the night and reach the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple on October 9 evening. The idol of goddess Saraswati and the ceremonial sword will be kept at the Saraswati mandapam in the temple complex where it will be worshipped during the Navaratri festival days. The idol of Velimala Kumaraswami will be kept at the Aryasala Devi temple and Munnoottinanka at Chenthitta Bhagavathy temple. The navaratri pooja will start on October 10 and conclude on 19, the Vijayadasami day. The return procession will start on October 21 and reach the Padmanabhapuram palace on October 23.