Thousands of people conducted religious rituals to propitiate the spirits of their ancestors on the occasion of ‘vavu bali’ on Wednesday.
Right from the early hours of Wednesday people thronged temples, riverside ghats, the Sanghumughom beach and the Varkala beach in the district to take part in the ‘bali’ rituals.
According to the Travancore Devaswom Board estimates, about 65,000 people offered ‘bali’ at the Parasuramaswamy temple at Thiruvallam and about 45,000 people offered bali at the Varkala beach. At Varkala, the board had authorised 120 priests to officiate at the ceremonies, and at Thiruvallam more than 50 priests were present.
In the city, ‘bali’ was also offered at other temples, including those at Thrivikramangalam, Aruvikkara, Kadinamkulam, Kelamangalam, Thrikkulangara and Rameswaram at Neyyattinkara.
Waste removal
The removal of waste from venues of ‘vavu bali’ ritual in the city—Thiruvallam and Sanghumughom—will commence by 5 a.m. on Thursday.
Corporation health officer D. Sreekumar said that since the ‘balitharpanam’ ritual went on till evening in these venues, the Corporation workers were unable to carry out cleaning activities on Wednesday.
“Our workers did however remove waste from the ‘bali kadavu’ where batches of people kept coming to offer ‘bali.’ The waste removed from these places has been collected and kept there itself for now. It will be taken to Kochuveli in garbage trucks after a thorough cleaning of these venues on Thursday morning,” Mr. Sreekumar said.
Project sanctioned
A Rs.6.5 crore project has been sanctioned for putting in place additional infrastructure facilities for the conduct of ‘vavu bali’ rituals at Aruvikkara.
A press note issued here on Wednesday quoted the Speaker and local MLA G. Karthikeyan as saying that more ‘bali manadapams’ would be set up and a check-dam built there.
Mr. Karthikeyan said this while evaluating the bali-related facilities at Aruvikkara after taking part in the rituals there, the press note said.
