Temples dedicated to Lord Muruga and Lord Shiva witnessed large crowds of devotees on Thursday on the occasion of ‘Thai Poosam’.
At the Subramaniaswamy temple in Vadapalani, popularly known as the Vadapalani Andavar temple, around 45,000 devotees had darshan.
The idol was decked in raja alankaram in the morning, special sandalwood paste in the afternoon and pushpa angi (made of flowers) in the evening. Over 150 policemen and 30 volunteers helped ensure the safety of visitors.
“Since the temple is under renovation, kavadi, alagu and paal kodams were not allowed. Vibhuthi and pongal were distributed to devotees,” said a source in the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.
The Thiruporur Subramaniaswamy temple, too, witnessed large crowds, with over 300 policemen being deployed to manage the rush. Crowds thronged the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar temple and that of the Siddhi Buddhi Vinayakar temple in Royapettah, where special arrangements had been made at the sannidhis of Lord Muruga.
The three-day temple float festival also got under way at the Kapaleeswarar temple. At the Tiruvottiyur Vadivudaiamman temple, along with ‘Thai Poosam’, a special thadaga pradhishtai homam was conducted when the sacred rivers were called to fill up and stay in the temple tank.
“We did this since the temple tank had water after a long time, following the monsoon. We will conduct the float festival on Friday,” a temple source said.
Tamil scholar Ma. Ki. Ramanan explained that the ‘Poosam’ star in the Tamil month of Thai was considered special since this was said to be the day when the Goddess Parvathi presented the Vel to Lord Muruga. Also, this was said to be the day when Ardhaneeswarar came into being.