THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annual Alpashi festival at Sree Padmanabhaswami temple concluded with the aarattu on Monday held with traditional pomp and pageantry.
During the ritual, the idols of Lord Sree Padmanabhaswami, Lord Sree Krishna and Lord Narasimha were brought out of the temple through the west gate of the temple.
The idols were thThe annual Alpashi festival at Sree Padmanabhaswami temple concluded with the aarattu on Monday held with traditional pomp and pageantry.en taken in a colourful procession for ritualistic bath in the Shankhumukham sea.
The procession started in the evening and returned in the night in luminescent traditional torches.
Head of the Travancore royal family, Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma, escorted the procession with drawn sword and shield. Hundreds of devotees had thronged the road sides to view the deities. Upon reaching Shankhumukham beach, the idols were placed at the aarattu mandapam, the stone structure on the beach.
The temple tantri conducted special poojas on the idols and gave a ritualistic bath in the sea. Traditional temple orchestra, armed police personnel and members of the Madras regiment, mounted police and men dressed up in the attire of the soldiers of the erstwhile Travancore royal army were part of the procession.
Flight operations were suspended and runway closed at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport between 4 pm and 9 pm to facilitate the aarattu procession.
The procession passed through the operational area of the airport to reach the sea.
