Sivaratri celebrated with dance

A large number of devotees offered worship to Lord Siva at all major shrines in the district on Monday night on the occasion of Mahasivarathiri festival.

Special alankaram was performed to the presiding deity of Lord Siva.

At Tiruvanaikovil, it turned to be a festival of dance, with artistes from different parts of the State performing dance recital all through the night.

Disciples of various dance schools and institutions vied with one another in presenting their recital. Interestingly, they chose the “kirtans” and hymns composed by saints and swamijis in glory of Lord Jambukeswarar.

For instance, the students of the Salangai Academy, gave a performance titled “Salangai Natyanjali”. They classified their performance into Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, and “Margam on Appu Lingeshwar”.

“Our students have been using this festival to dedicate their talents at the Feet of Lord Jambukeswarar for the past two decades,” said Mukundan and Vijaya Mukundan, principal of the academy.

In all, 14 students from the academy participated in this year’s event. Sridev presented vocal support, Veeramani on the violin, and Nellai Hariharasundan on the mridangam.

Another artiste, Meenakshi Sagar from Aradhana School of Dance in Coimbatore, said that her 16 disciples had meticulously chosen compositions suited to Sri Jambukeswarar temple.

“For instance, the popular composition Jambu patthae by Muthuswamy Dikshitar provides the detailed description about the presiding deity of this shrine,” she said.

Their performance also included recital on hymns sung by Saivite stalwarts in glory of this temple.