Karthigai Deepam car festival was conducted in Tiruvannamalai with religious fervour and gaiety on Saturday. The five wooden cars bearing five deities of the Sri Arunachaleswarar temple go around the Mada streets on the day.
The procession of the first car of Lord Vinayaka started at 7 a.m. on Saturday. District Collector K.S. Kandasamy, Inspector-General of Police P. Nagarajan and Joint Commissioner of Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple R. Gnanasekar participated in the celebrations. It was followed by Lord Subramania’s (Murugar) car at around 11 a.m. Then the car of presiding deity Sri Annamalaiyar started in the afternoon. Chants of Annamalaiyarukku harohara reverberated in the air throughout the evening and the sounds could be heard from a distance.
Only women
Then, the Amman’s car followed in the evening and significantly only women were allowed to pull it. Finally, the car of Chandikeswarar was pulled by boys in the evening after the Amman’s car reached its abode.
The temple town was teeming with devotees who wanted to have a “darshan” of the deity of Lord Arunchaleswarar being taken around in a well decorated wooden car. Bigger in size, the car was designed in such a way that it rolled down the four Mada Streets and safety measures were put in place to run it smoothly.
‘Amman Ratham’
Women, who performed several rituals, including observing fast and taking a holy bath, were waiting to pull the “Amman Ratham” in the evening.
Several policemen, home guards and fire service personnel were deployed. Surveillance cameras were installed at vantage points besides on the girivalam path in the temple town to prevent any untoward incident.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Vellore, N. Kamini, and Superintendent of Police, Tiruvannamalai, M.R. Sibi Chakravarthi, monitored the security arrangements.
