TIRUVANNAMALAI: The Karthigai deepam festival in Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar temple is culminating to the lighting of Mahadheepam Tuesday evening on the hills amid tight security. More than ten lakh people are expected to view the holy event.
The maha dheepam will be lit atop the 2668-feet-tall Annamalaiyar Hills at 6.00 p.m. All the arrangements have been made for the mega event marking the ten-day dheepam festival. A 200 kg-weighing cauldron, 3500 litres of ghee, 1000 metre wick made of gada cloth reached the hill top to light the dheepam.
Earlier in the day, Bharani dheepam was lit in the temple premises amid chants of hymns praising the presiding deity Annamalaiyar.
Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) minister Sevoor S Ramachandran, Secretary and Commissioner K Phanindra Reddy and Tiruvannamalai district collector KS Kandasamy were present.
The divine ambience has spread throughout the temple town of Tiruvannamalai as the annual festival drew thousands of devotees to witness the two major events- bharani dheepam and maha dheepam.
About ten thousand policemen have been deployed for security in the temple and the town. Additional DGP (L&O) K Jayanth Murali and North Zone IG P Nagarajan are supervising security arrangements.