Vijayadashami is believed to be an auspicious day for commencing new ventures, especially in the field of culture and learning. Thousands of tiny tots were initiated into the world of letters across the state on Monday. In Ernakulam, parents with their children thronged the Dakshina Mookambika Saraswati Temple in North Paruvur, one of famous Saraswati temples in the state and around 4,000 children had their ‘Vidyarambham’ on Monday. The temple is witness to initiation of letters of thousands of children every year.
The ‘Vidyarambham’ rituals commenced as early as 2 am with the special pooja and rituals performed by head priest Narayanan Embran and Tantri Puliyannoor Vasudevan Namboothiri. Devotees started queuing up at the temple at 1 am itself. For the first time, special arrangements were made at the temple for people to wait in specific places and in the queue.
After the special pujas, the ‘Vidyarambham’ commenced at the specially-erected Saraswati mandapam at the temple. The ‘Vidyarambham’ ceremony started at 5.30 am and ended at 2.30 pm. Astrologist Kunnathur Illath Vishnu Namboothiri, Paruvur Jyothis, Dr M N Venkiteshan, Kashimadom Kashinathan, Anandan Cherai, Radhamani Parameshwaran, C G Jayapal, Adv Ramachandran, Dr Ramakrishnan Kalady, T K Radhamani, Sreedevi S Nair, Vishwanathan Namboothiri, Narayana Sharma, Anandavalli Hemachandran, P S Udayabhanu and Prabhakaran Kochukalathil were the gurus who introduced the Malayalam letters to the children.
Last year, 3,877 children were formally initiated into the world of letters at the temple. People flocked from Thrissur, Alappuzha and different parts of the district to open the doors of learning to their children. Parking for the vehicles was provided at Kacherimaidan and the Limited Stop Bus Stand this year. The parking grounds were full early in the morning.
The Navratri festival at the Dakshina Mookambika Saraswati Temple started on October 5. Thousands of people participated in the Navratri music festival. On ‘Durgashtami’ day, students offer their books for puja and keep off learning on the day and on ‘Mahanavami’ day. Special prayers and poojas are offered and on Vijayadashami day, students take back the books and are back to studies.
The ten-day festival concluded with music concerts and dance performances on Monday. Children also had their first stage performance (arangettam) in various dance forms at the temple during the celebrations.
The Vijayadashami special pooja was performed at 8.30 am on Monday. The Navratri music festival and the ‘Vidyarambham’ celebrations are famous festivals in the temple. The ‘Vidyarambham’ was also held at many other temples and churches across the district.