THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The centuries-old Murajapam-Lakshadeepam festival began at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple on Thursday. A maha ganapathy homam performed by temple thantri Tharananelloor Satheesan Nambooripad marked the commencement of the festival, celebrated once in every six years.
Vedic scholars from different parts of the country chanted vedas in the temple. Special veda mandapas have been set up on the four nadas of the temple. The 56-day-long festival will see the chanting of Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. The inclusion of Atharva Veda is a novelty of this edition.
Special pushpanjali and nivedya were offered to Lord Sree Padmanabha on the day. The rituals were led by thantris Govindan Namboodiripad, Pradeep Namboodiripad, Saji Namboodiripad and Padmanabhan Namboodiripad.
Sahasranamajapam was conducted at the Seevelippura. A colourful procession carrying the idols of Lord Sree Padmanabha, Lord Narasimha and Lord Thiruvambadi Sree Krishna were taken out in the temple complex at night. The royal family head made the customary accompaniment to the siveli ritual. Moolam Thirunal Ramavarma, head of the erstwhile Travancore royal family, members Pooyam Thirunal Gowri Parvathi Bai, Aswathy Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bai and Aditya Varma attended.
Various cultural programmes titled ‘Vande Padmanabham’ will be held on the festival days. Telugu actor Rana Daggubati inaugurated the cultural segment. Aditya Varma presented an Onavillu to the actor. Daggubati released the 2026 calendar brought out by the temple.