THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Special poojas were conducted and offerings made to mark the 31st day of ‘murajapam’ ritual at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here on Saturday. As part of the ritual held once every six years, vedic scholars also recited ‘devajapam’ and ‘sookthajapam’ to mark the occasion.
The temple was decked up to mark the occasion. Pooyam Tirunal Gouri Parvathy Bai, Aswathi Tirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bai and Aditya Varma of the erstwhile Travancore royal family visited the temple during the vedic recital and offered ‘dakshina’ to priests.
Swami Satyatma Thirtha of Uttaradi Math, who visited the temple, was received with a ‘poornakumbham’. Governor Rajendra Arlekar and his wife also accompanied the swami during his visit to the temple. The spiritual leader who delivered a sermon on the occasion was presented with a traditional ‘onavillu’ by thantri Brahmashree Satheesan Namboodiripad.
The swami later lit the lamp at the Vedamandapam of Atharva Veda Bhavgavan located outside the northern nada of the temple. Satheesan Namboodirpad, temple executive officer B Mahesh and other senior functionaries were present on the occasion.
Later, Swami Satyatma delivered a sermon on the banks of the Padmatheertham pond where the ‘jalajapam’ ritual was being held. Devotees paid respects to the spiritual leader on the occasion.
Temple authorities said that ‘sreebali’ will be conducted at 8.30 pm on Sunday to mark the conclusion of the fourth ‘murajapam’.
The idols will be taken out on a procession on a ‘pallinilavu vehicle’ as part of the ritual.