Festival fervour gripped Kalpathy, the heritage village, in Palakkad on Thursday with hundreds of people thronging the premises of the Manthakkara Mahaganapathy temple to watch the ceremonial temple car procession.
The chariots started moving around 5 p.m. through the streets of the village on the second day of the annual festival and the journeys concluded by night. The famous Devaratha Sangamam, a confluence of different chariots, will be held on Friday.
The district administration has declared local holiday in Palakkad taluk on Friday to facilitate people’s participation in the festival.
Special pujas
On Thursday, special pujas were held at the Manthakkara temple, Chathapuram Prasanna Mahaganapathy Temple, and Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Temple. Special pujas were also held at Viswanatha Swamy Temple, the main centre of the festival.
Hundreds of pilgrims and tourists will throng the ancient village of Tamil Brahmins to witness the traditional chariots on Friday. On the final day, there would be religious rituals, including Rudrabhishekam, Vedic recital, Rudrakramarchana, Ezhunnellathu, and Deeparadhana.
The Kalpathy car festival, dedicated to Viswanatha Swamy, the presiding deity of the major temple in the village, is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the country. It is believed that the Tamil Brahmins who migrated to Palakkad in the 14th century established 96 Agraharams, 18 of which are in the town.
