Preparations for the annual music and car festival have begun at the heritage village Kalpathy here with experts launching the repairs of the chariot of Visalakshi Sametha Viswanatha Swami Temple.
The works, estimated at ₹6 lakh, are being undertaken by a set of experts led by Perambalur C. Manikandan. Four wooden wheels of the chariot would be replaced with those made of iron. This year’s festival would be held on November 14, 15, and 16.
Renowned musicians have already been signed for the six-day music festival beginning on November 8. Chennai-based vocalist Rithwik Raja will perform on the inaugural day.
On November 9 Vivek Moozhikulam and Cherthala K.N. Ranganatha Sharma will perform.
On November 10, M. Muthukrishnan and O.S. Thyagarajan will perform. On November 11, music students of Chembai Music College will perform.
It would be followed by concert by Sudha Raghunathan. On November 12, Chittur music college students and Ramakrishna Murthy will organise separate concerts. On the concluding day of November 13, Mysore M. Nagaraj and Mysore M. Manjunath will perform violin.
History
The car festival is a major tourism and spiritual event in Malabar.
The Sri Viswanatha Swami temple (Kundampalam in popular parlance), on the banks of Nila river at Kalpathy, the main centre.
It is believed that the deity there was brought from the Ganges at Varanasi.
An inscription on a stone nearby says the temple was built in the Malayalam year 600 (1424 AD) by Shri Itti Komban Achan, the then Raja of Palakkad.
The festival is celebrated in the last week of the Tamil month of Aippasi.
It starts on the 22nd of Aippasi and concludes on the last day of that month.
This synchronises with the festival celebrated in Mayiladuthurai in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu.
The three satellite temples in the villages of New Kalpathy, Old Kalpathy, and Chathapuram also celebrate the festival.
Cultural programmes
During the car festival, vocalists, pipers, Nadaswara Vidwans and other artistes perform during the processions of the temple deities every night.
On the last day, all the four villagers compete with one another to select the ablest piper.
While the rituals inside the temple and the mode of worship are based on the Tamil Brahmin culture, the practices outside like drum beating, decoration of Ratham etc., are of Kerala style.