All arrangements are in place at various temples in the district to hold ‘Karkidaka vavu Bali’, a ritualistic offering to the spirits of ancestors, on Tuesday. People believe that performing ‘Bali’ on ‘Karkidaka vavu’ day will appease the spirits of their ancestors and bring good fortune and opulence to them.
The ritual will start at 6 am at the temples and conclude by afternoon. Various Devaswom board officials expect a huge intake of believers to all temples in the district as people will not be able to perform Bali at Siva temple in Aluva. They added that water had already submerged Aluva Manappuram, where people offer ‘bali’, owing to the incessant rain.
Meanwhile, temple authorities said that special arrangements were made at Nettoor Mahadevar temple, where most people prefer to perform Bali after Aluva.
“Performing Bali at the temple is considered as special and the temple is also known as Thekkan Kashi. As opposed to previous years, the ritual will be held in front of Lord Vishnu instead of Lord Siva. Also, renovation of the temple pond has been completed to avoid any kind of inconvenience during the ritual performance”, Mahadevar temple authorities said.
The temple has a very different custom during the day named ‘Vada Pooja’. “As part of the ritual, the relatives are required to offer a bowl of rice to the ancestors instead of the ‘pinda arpana’ ritual. The bowl of rice can be obtained from the temple giving the name and star of the deceased. Special counters were also arranged at the temple to distribute the tickets for availing of rice for the ritual”, temple authorities said.
Special arrangements were also made at many other temples for the smooth conduct of bali tharpan.