Devotees witness float festival

Tens of hundreds of devotees throng Lakshmana Theertham on the eve of Thai Poosam

Theppam festival being held in Rameswaram on Saturday.— Photo: L. Balachandar

Tens of hundreds of devotees thronged the Lakshmana Theertham (sacred tank) here on Saturday to witness the ‘Theppa Thiruvizha’ (Float festival) organised on the eve of Thai Poosam and offer worship at the Sri Ramanathaswamy temple.

After organising the float festival for Lord Vinayakar at the theertham on Friday, the temple authorities organised the festival for Lord Ramanathaswamy, his consort Goddess Paravathavardhini Ambal and Panchamoorthigal on Saturday evening.

The presiding deities were taken around the ‘theertha kulam’ in a colourfully decorated and illuminated ‘theppam’ for eleven rounds to the accompaniment of Nagaswaram and Thavil.

Hundreds of devotees stood around the tank and witnessed the colourful event.

The deities were taken around the tank after priests performed ‘Deepa aradhanai’ at the Maha Mandapam in the temple and Central Mandapam in the tank.

Temple closed

After the ceremony, the deities were taken back to the temple in a procession.

Earlier, after the deities were brought out for the ceremony around 11 a.m., the temple remained closed till the deities were taken back into the temple late on Saturday evening, S. Sevaraj, Joint Commissioner of the Temple and K. Mayilvahanan, Assistant Divisional Engineer also said.

The temple was again closed after the deities were taken in, they said.