Vaikasi Visakam festival begins in Palani
The Hindu
DINDIGUL
Amidst chanting of mantras, the hoisting of the holy flag at Sri Periyanayaki Amman Temple, popularly called ‘Oor Kovil,’ marked the commencement of the Vaikasi Visakam festival in Palani on Monday.
After performing a special yagam, beautifully decorated idols of Lord Muthukumarasamy and the Goddesses – Valli and Deivanai – draped in special attires were taken out in a procession around the outer prakaram of the temple.
They were later brought to the Kodikatti mandapam for the ceremony.
At the outer prakaram, special abhishekams and aradhanas were performed on the ‘dwajasthambam’ (flag-post) and the holy flag which had images of the holy lance (vel), peacock and cock on it.
Hundreds of devotees witnessed the holy ceremony around 11 a.m. with chants of ‘Arohara’ reverberating on the temple premises.
Following this, the temple elephant Kasthuri was taken out on a procession around the inner prakaram of the temple amidst the playing of percussion instruments.
The celestial wedding of Lord Muthukumaraswamy with Goddesses Valli and Deivanai will take place on June 11 and the holy car procession at 4.30 p.m. on June 12.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.