The procession of idols marking the commencement of the Navaratri festival, began from the Padmanabhapuram palace in Thuckalay in Kanniyakumari district to Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
The procession was preceded by a ceremony at the Uppikka Malika in the palace complex where the ceremonial sword was handed over to Minister for Archeology and Archives Kadannappally Ramachandran by Director, Department of Archaeology E. Dinesan. It was then passed on to Devaswom Minister V.N. Vasavan and handed over to Kanyakumary Devaswom Board chairperson Prabha Ramakrishnan.
MLAs C.K. Hareendran and M. Vincent, Kanniyakumari District Collector R. Alagameena, Sub Collector Vinay Kumar Meena and Travancore Devaswom Board president P.S. Prasanth were among those present.
The procession later set out after a guard of honour by the armed police divisions of the Kerala and Tamil Nadu police. While the idol of Saraswathi Devi was carried atop an elephant, those of Sucheendram Munnoottinanga and Velimala Kumaraswamy were carried in palanquins.
After an overnight stopover at the Mahadeva temple, Kuzhithurai, the procession will reach Kaliyikkavila on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border on Wednesday morning where it will be accorded a reception by the Kerala Police and officials from the Revenue and Devaswom departments. The idols will reach Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday evening.
The idol of Saraswathy Devi will be kept at the mandapam at the eastern gate of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple for the duration of the Navaratri festival, while the idol of Kumaraswamy will be kept at the Devi temple, Aryasala, and that of Munnoottinanga at the Chenthitta temple.
The procession will head back to Padmanabhapuram after the Navaratri festival.
Published - October 01, 2024 08:31 pm IST
