Colours of Rishaba Vahanam

The day of the Rishaba Vahanam is a huge one; on Tuesday night hundreds of people began filing into the temple and them took their place in Sannidhi Square to be part of the event.

We were there a bit past 11 p.m. While the shoppers' and hawkers' life had ebbed on North and South Mada Street, East Mada Street had got a new life.

Inside the temple, on the north eastern side priests numbering fifty or more took turns at the recitation of the Vedas. It would have taken them about 90minutes to do it; the chant adding a nice ring to the shuffle, rush and swish all around us here.

 rishaba v

The goddess was decked and since we have been fascinated with the daily craftwork on the jadai, we looked closet at the one tonight - it was a jaddai in the form of a peacock created with flowers and peacock feathers. The flowers were a variety and a riot and there were a few craft items pinned to the jadai!

The Lord was looking very regal tonight; his shiny satin blue angavastram ran all around him.

He had a grand alankaram of colorful flowers and some dry fruits.

When it was time past the midnight hour, over two dozen volunteers carried the gods and deeparadhana was held thrice at three different points inside the campus; the Lord got into a gentle dance, symbolically created by the volunteers carrying Him.

 

By then more than 3000 plus people had packed into Sannidhi Square.They are all here to get a nice look at the Gods and the final deeparadhana held in the 16-pillared mantap before the procession winds its way through the mada veedhis.

It would be about 6.30 a.m. when the gods get back to their spaces.

Photos and inputs; R. Saravanan.