Hundreds of devotees thronged the Mahadeva Mahavishnu temple at Nettoor to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu on the occasion of the Valiyavilakku day of the Thiruvathira festival on Thursday.
The procession of twelve caparisoned elephants from Nettoor INTUC Junction to the temple added to the festive spirit.
The idols of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu were carried on the elephants Mangalamkunnu Karnan and Paramekkavu Sreepadmanabhan.
Meanwhile, special rituals were held at the temple in the morning in connection with the festival.
Ramachandran Embranthiri at the Shiva temple and Krishnarao Embranthiri at the Vishnu temple led the special rituals in the morning. ‘Palliyunarth’, the traditional waking up of the deities was held at 5 am. Following this, the ‘abhishekam’ was held by pouring paneer, ghee, oil and water on the deities.
When the priests completed the rituals, the procession of the elephants entered the temple at 10.15 am.
Soon, the ‘panchaari melam’, that saw the participation of hundreds of artists, began. Chenda maestro Kizhakkoottu Aniyan Marar led the ‘melam’.
The rhythmic beats of the ‘chenda’, ‘kurumkuzhal’, ‘elathaalam’ and ‘kombu’ was a treat to the gathering.
Chenamamgalam Unnikrishna Marar, Chovaloor Mohanan, Jeralathu Aravidakshan, Guruvayur Kamal Nath and RLV Ajayan were the other stalwarts in the melam.
The ‘pakal pooram’ concluded at 1 pm. With the idols of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu were taken out to the ‘Vadakke Pattupurakkal’ and ‘Thekke Pattupurakkal’ and the festivities restarted at 8.30 pm. The deities were returned to the Mahadeva Mahavishnu temple after midnight.
The ‘panchaari melam’, which continued late into the night, reached its crescendo during the early hours of Friday.