Preparations for colourful Sri Krishna Jayanthi

Eesthetically painted mud pots to be given as ‘prasadam’

Colourful mud pots that were prepared for Sri Krishna Jayanthi celebrations at Arugankulam near Tirunelveli.— Photo: Lakshmi Arun

With 5,000 aesthetically painted mud pots and mouth-watering sweets, all to be given to devotees as ‘prasadam’, the Yettezhuththu Perumal Dharmapathi at Arugankulam near here is gearing up for yet another glittering Sri Krishna Jayanthi celebration on Saturday.

The Yettezhuththu Perumal Dharmapathi, situated about 4 km from here, celebrates Sri Krishna Jayanthi in a different and colourful fashion for the past four years. Though the inseparable ‘uriyadi’ is also part of the celebration, the festival does not end up with the play as the Dharmapathi gives sweets and snacks, all prepared by experts on its premises in a highly hygienic manner, to the devotees in the strikingly painted mud pots as ‘parasadam’.

This year’s work on preparing the colourful mud pots began two months ago. Devotees and a team of experts were painting the pots, all specially brought to Dharmapathi from Kooniyoor, a small hamlet near Cheranmahadevi and Ervadi in the district, which are famous for earthen articles. Of these 5,000 pots, a good number of pots has been beautifully painted with the face of Lord Krishna.

“A team of experts, all devotees of Krishna observing fasting till the end of the work, who were brought from various places, are preparing 10 varieties of sweets and snacks for the past one week. These edible items are being packed and kept in the mud pots,” said a devotee involved in the exercise, who did not want to be indentified.

Apart from this, the Dharmapathi is also preparing a few thousand flutes, Lord Maayakannan’s musical instrument, studded with artificial stones, silk cloths and peacock feather, all to be given to the devotees.

To streamline the distribution of ‘prasadam’, the Dharmapathi has already registered the names of the devotees who had received tokens on producing their ration cards.

“Devotees keep these beautifully embellished mud pots in their houses by keeping the valuables in them. Yettezhuththu Perumal Dharmapathi is the only place in the entire country after Mathura, where butter kept in mud pots is given as ‘prasadam’ to the devotees.”