Thousands of transgenders, mostly Miss Koovagam beauty pageant hopefuls, from across the country, have swarmed Villupuram to revel in the Koothandavar temple festival at Koovagam village.
With the beauty pageant scheduled for Tuesday, thousands of transgenders began coming to Villupuram and were putting up at lodges and other transgenders.
Rathi, from Bangalore, says: “Seven of us have come here from Bangalore. We are all staying in a rented house. I have been coming to the Koothandavar festival for past 15 years. We will participate in cultural events and will be staging a dance performance during the competition.” A temple car festival would be held on Wednesday morning, during which thousands of transgenders are expected to participate and offer prayers to ‘Aravaan’ (Koothandavar).
During the festival, transgenders would tie ‘Thalis’ at the Koothandavar temple, reenacting a scene from the Mahabharat, in which Mohini, an incarnation of Vishnu, marries Aravaan.