10-day Koda festival begins at Mandaikadu Bhagavathy temple
The Hindu
Koda on March 14; festival will conclude with Odukku puja at midnight on the day
The 10-day annual Koda festival of the Mandaikadu Bhagavathy temple began on Sunday morning with the traditional flag-hoisting ceremony in the presence of devotees from Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Tamil Nadu Ministers P.K. Shekhar Babu and Mano Thangaraj, Vijay Vasanth, MP, and other officials were present.
The Koda will take place on March 14, attended by lakhs of devotees from various regions of Tamil Nadu and the southern parts of Kerala. Valiyapadukka, a midnight ritual of the festival, will be performed on March 10 and the procession of Valiya Theevatti on March 13. The festival will conclude with the Odukku puja at midnight on March 14.
The Tamil Nadu government has made elaborate arrangements to regulate the flow of pilgrims. Special inter-state bus services are operated between Thiruvananthapuram and Mandaikadu by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation. The Tamil Nadu police have deployed 750 special personnel and a contingent of Marine Police for security and crowd management. Ten watchtowers have been installed around the temple, including the coastal stretches close to the shrine. The temple is now administered by the Kanyakumari Devaswom Board.