Devotees on Tuesday celebrated the annual Mangani (mango) festival in Karaikal in veneration of Karaikal Ammaiyar, the only woman among 63 Nayanmars of Saivism.
Hundreds of devotees flung ripe mangoes from buildings when the utasav idol of Pichandavar (Lord Shiva) was taken out in a procession through the streets. The belief is that the fruits reach God.
Legend has it that a pious young woman named Punithavathi, who later came to be revered as Karaikal Ammaiyar, offered a saint (Lord Shiva in disguise) with the only mango she had kept for her husband. When her husband asked for the mango, she prayed to God after which a fruit fell on her hand from nowhere. Her husband thereafter considered her a supernatural being and left her.
Punithavathi prayed to Lord Shiva to take away her beauty. She became an old woman dedicated to the service of God came to be known as Karaikal Ammaiyar.
The district administration had declared a local holiday on Tuesday for the festival.
