The seven-day Kanda Sashti festival commenced at Sri Dhandayuthapaniswamy Temple on Palani hill on Monday with the ‘kaappu kattu’ ceremony and ‘kalpa puja.’
‘Kaappu’ (holy thread) was tied to Lord Vinayagar and later to Sri Dhandayuthapaniswamy, Lord Shanmugar and the peacock, the Lord’s mount, and also to Nava Veerargal. Later, temple priests tied it to the Lord’s war general, Veerabahu, dwara palakas and parivara murtis.
Hundreds of devotees, who had congregated on the hill temple, too tied the ‘kaappu’ to observe penance. After the ceremony, special pujas and deeparadhanas were performed. Similar pujas were performed at Sri Periyanayaki Amman Temple and also at Sri Thiru Avinangudi Temple. ‘Surasamharam’ (annihilation of demons), the main event of the festival, will take place on November 5. Lord Chinnakumaraswamy will ascend the peacock mount and vanquish four ‘asuras’ on the four streets around the hill (‘Giri Veedhis’), using the holy lance offered by his mother Goddess Malaikozhundhu Amman.
After preliminary pujas on the hill temple and receipt of the holy lance around 1.30 p.m., destruction of the ‘asuras’ will start around 5.30 p.m. near Sri Padha Vinayagar Temple.
Later, Sri Chinnakumaraswamy will be taken on Indira Vimanam for the victory ceremony at Ariyar Mandapam around 9 p.m. the same day. The celestial wedding of Goddess Deivayanai and Lord Muthukumarasamy will take place at the hill temple in the morning and at Periyanayaki Amman Temple in the evening on November 6.
