Lord Kallazhagar, the presiding deity of the Kallazhagar temple at Alagarkovil began his journey to Madurai as part of the temple’s Chithirai festival here on Saturday evening.
The deity was brought out from a mandapam inside the temple on a palanquin at 6.15 p.m. amidst chanting of hymns by thousands of devotees who thronged the temple to get a glimpse of the Lord before He started His journey to Madurai.
Proceeding from the temple premises at 7 p.m., the deity, carried on a gold palanquin by around 50 volunteers, made stops at the ‘mandagapadis’ which had been set up in the area by the devotees. A large posse of police personnel had been deployed to manage the crowds and two temporary watchtowers had been erected inside the temple premises.
Throughout the night, the procession made stops at ‘mandagapadis’ in Poigaikaraipatti, Kallandhiri, Appan Tirupathi and Sundararajanpatti.
‘Edhirsevai’
The procession is expected to reach Moondrumaavadi at 6 a.m. for the ‘Edhirsevai’ on Sunday. Temple authorities said that there were 410 ‘mandagapadis’ where the procession was expected to stop.
As one of the highlights of the festival, Lord Kallazhagar will enter the Vaigai river at 6.45 a.m. on Monday. A temple official said that following talks with the city police, they had set up LED screens at five vantage points where the crowds were said to be the maximum to enable the public to see the proceedings.
The LED screens will be set up at three places near the Vaigai riverbed, at the Tallakulam Perumal Temple and at Goripalayam junction.