Fire and light . . . .

There are lots and lots of small but key preparations that go into the festival. And they seem to fall into place at the right time and date!

We caught up with the team which readies the 'thee vettis' ; the natural fire lighters that must be a relic of an age when we lived without electricity.

Loads of these lights are required. So a team gathers lots of bamboo sticks and soaks one end in a watery cow dung mix. The sticks thus are baked in the sun.

Every evening a few are taken out, soaked in ghee and lit; volunteers carry the thee vetti at the head of the procession of the gods inside the temple campus and up to the 16 pillar mantapam.