A large number of devotees from various places converged at Srirangam and pulled the temple car of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple on the occasion of the Chithirai car festival and offered worship to Sri Namperumal on Sunday.
The car festival celebrated during the Tamil month 'Chithirai' is one of the important events of the Srirangam temple.
The 11-day Chithirai festival commenced on May 5 with the processional deity Sri Namperumal being taken on various ‘Vaahanas’.
The highlight of the festival was on Sunday when the beautifully decorated temple car was pulled. The processional deity Sri Namperumal was taken in a procession from the ‘Kannaadi Arai’ at around 3.45 a.m to the Chithirai Ther mandapam and from there on the temple car.
After conduct of special poojas, the temple car was pulled by thousands of devotees at around 6 a.m. The temple car went around the four Chithirai streets for over three hours before coming to the ‘Nilai’ at around 9.15 a.m.
The temple joint commissioner P. Jayaraman, chairman, Board of Trustees Venu Srinivasan and other members participated in the festival. A heavy posse of police personnel was deployed in temple town Srirangam in connection with the temple car festival. The festival concludes on May 15.
