The 10-day Painkunni festival of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple here that was scheduled to commence on March 30 has been deferred in adherence to guidelines issued by the Centre and State governments to contain COVID-19.
A decision to this effect was taken by the administrative committee of the temple headed by chairman K. Babu on Monday. The suggestion to defer the annual festival of the temple to a suitable later date had come from temple priest Nedumpilli Tharanallur N.P. Parameswaran Namboodiripad.
Thanthri and the administrative committee accepted it, Mr. Babu, also the District and Sessions Judge, Thiruvananthapuram, said.
The decision comes when the Mannuneerkoral ritual in connection with the festival was scheduled for Tuesday. The executive officer of the temple, V. Ratheesan, said last week that the Painkunni festival would be held without public participation and by following the age-old rituals, including the Palli vetta (royal hunt) and the Arat procession to the Shanghumughom Beach for the ritual immersion of the idols in the sea on April 8.
Already, the giant fibre glass figures of Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu in the Indian epic Mahabharata, have been installed at the eastern entrance. Already, the entry of devotees had been banned in the temple from Friday onwards.
