KOCHI: The Sivarathri celebrations at Aluva Manappuram began with the ceremonial lighting of midnight Sivarathri lamp on Tuesday midnight, marking the beginning of the rituals. The devotees began offering ‘bali’ for the departed souls from midnight and it will continue on Wednesday. Chennas Manakkal Parameshwaran Namboothiripad and chief priest Mullappilly Manakkal Subramanian Namboothiripad are leading the ceremonies and rituals at the Manappuram.
Around 150 ‘bali tharas’ were set up at the Manappuram apart from the permanent ones of the Travancore Devaswom Board. Besides, the Advaita Ashramam had made arrangements for around 3,000 people to offer ‘bali’ at a time.
Police control room
The police have opened a temporary police control room at Aluva Manappuram as apart of the celebrations. The round-the-clock control room will monitor the proceedings at the Manappuram. The control room is connected with the CCTV cameras installed at various places in the town, said the Ernakulam rural police. Around 2,000 police personnel, including 10 DySPs, 30 CIs, 164 SI/ASIs, 1500 CPOs, 200 women CPOs, were deployed at the Manappuram as part of security arrangements.