THANJAVUR: Thousands of devotees took part in the temple car procession of the Peruvudayar temple (known as Big Temple) as part of the Chithirai festival on Wednesday. Government offices were given a day's holiday on the occasion.
A new car was built in 2015 after a gap of 100 years. However, owing to the pandemic and lockdowns, the festival was not conducted in 2020 and 2021.
On Wednesday morning, bronze statues of Thyagarajar and Kamalambal were brought from the Big Temple and placed on the sixteen-and-half-foot-tall wooden car, over which 32 feet temporary decorations were made.
After the decorated statues were placed on the car that stood at the stand ('Theradi') located on West Main Street, special 'Deeparathana' was performed and the devotees, led by Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver, started pulling the car. Superintendent of Police G Ravali Priya and the temple's hereditary trustee
Babaji Raja Bhonsale were present.
The car procession began at 6.50 am and progressed through West Main Street, North Main Street, East Main Street and South Main Street, and ended at 11.50 am.
Pots with sprouted seeds (Mulaippari) were taken in front of the car on a tractor and artistes performed traditional 'Kummiyattam', 'Kolattam' and 'Thappattam'. Thambai, Udumba, Kombu and other traditional instruments were also played.
The car was pulled at a faster pace, thanks to the large number of devotees. It was stopped at 14 places, including Santhu Mariamman temple, Konganeswarar temple, Kamatchi Amman temple, Moolai Hanumar temple on West Main Street, Pillayarkoil, Rathinapureeswarar temple, Gurukula Sanjeevi temple on North Main Street, Kodimarathumoolai, Vittobatemple and Manikarnikeswarar temple, Varatharajaperumal temple on East Main Street and Kaliyuga Venkatesaperumal koil, Kasi Viswanathar koil, Kaliyammankoil on South Main Street. Devotees offered pooja when the procession halted for 15 minutes in each place.
Small cars with idols of Vinayakar, Subramaniyar, Neelothpalambal and Chandeeswarar were also pulled. Traffic snarled at Gandhiji Road due to the crowd and many organisations provided free food (annadanam), cool drinks including buttermilk for the devotees. Police officials led by SP G Ravali Pirya arranged security.