Hundreds throng Vaithikuppam to offer prayers to the deities brought from over 100 temples for Masi Magam festival
The Hindu
The idols are brought in a procession through the main thoroughfares and taken to the shore for the Theerthavari. On the occasion, devotees take a dip in the sea and pay obeisance to their forefathers by offering ‘tharpanam’
Hundreds of people gathered on the seashore at Vaithikuppam to offer prayers to the ‘Utsava’ deities brought from more than 100 temples in Puducherry and neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu for the annual ‘Theerthavari’ ceremony on the occasion of Masi Magam festival on Tuesday.
Devotees thronged the coastal hamlet to watch the idols being brought in a procession through the main thoroughfares and taken to the shore for the ceremony. On the occasion, devotees took a dip in the sea and paid obeisance to their forefathers by offering ‘tharpanam.’
Deities of Poyyamozhi Vinayagar (Theevanur), Aranganatha Swami (Ginjee), Sivasubramania Swami (Mailam), Thenkalai Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Manakula Vinayagar, Varadaraja Perumal, Angala Parameshwari and Mudaliyarpettai Venniyaperumal temple were brought to the shore for the ‘Theerthavari’ ceremony.
Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Speaker R. Selvam, Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan and legislators were among those who offered prayers. Several organisations had arranged ‘annadhanam’ for devotees at Vaithikuppam and nearby localities.