Thousands of devotees pulled the temple car of Sri Ayyarappar at Tiruvaiyaru on Wednesday. The festival is being held as part of the Chitrai Perunthiruvizha of the shrine. The festivities began with the sacred flag hoisting on April 12.
Early on Wednesday, the processional deities of the temple Ayyaappar and Aramvalartha Nayaki along with deities Vinayakar, Subrahmanyar, Panchamoorthys arrived at the car base and the two important deities were placed atop the mount of the temple car to be taken around the four main streets of the town.
Dharmapuram Adheena Kattalai Visararnai Kumaraswamy Thambiran, AIADMK candidates M. Rengasamy (Thanjavur), M.G.M. Subramaniam (Tiruvaiyaru), DMK Tiruvaiyaru candidate Durai Chandrasekaran and others participated in the ritual.
On Saturday, the main Saptha Sthanam festival when the processional deities Sri Ayyarappar and Sri Aramvalartha Nayaki will travel in one palanquin while Sri Nandikeswarar and Sri Suyasambikai will be carried in another palanquin to Thirupazhanam, Thirusotruthurai, Thiruvedhikudi, Thirukandiyur and Thirupoonthurithi before arriving at Thillaisthanam on the banks of the Cauvery where some rituals would be performed.
On Sunday, palanquins from those seven shrines including that of Tiruvaiyaru will go round the main streets of the town in a grand procession.
