N.Sumathe*, & P.Jeyabalakrishnan**

*Ph.D., Research Scholar in History, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.
** Assistant Professor in History, DDE, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar.

Abstract
Festivals or utsavoms are ceremonies which are celebrated once in a year in all the temples of minor Gods, with all the attendant pujas and cultural programmes. In a majority of the temples, festivals are conducted only-once in a year. Those temples where festivals  are celebrated two or three times in a year are not,  rare. The extent of the festival days varies  from  temple to temple. In most of the temples  the festival  lasts for ten  days  where as in some others it lasts   for only six or eight days.
Festivals at Nagaraja Temple:
The annual festival of Nagaraja Temple is conducted in the month of ‘Thai’  for ten days1. In every month, special pujas are performed. Among them, ‘Ailya’ puja is a significant one. It is celebrated on Ailya Star every month.   Pilgrims from different parts  of the district  visit this  temple on all  Sundays of ‘Aavani’.  Especially  ladies  throng  to this  temple  on that day and the temple wears a  festive look. Ladies who come to visit the temple on that day, pour milk on the idols of Nagaraja, which are kept under the baniyan tree.  Further they offer salt, pepper and wooden articles as offerings to the deity.
Festivals at Bhagavathi Temple
Every year in the month of Meenam corresponding to the English, month March-April, an important festival, lasting for-ten days is observed, in the Bhagavathi temples. The festival begins with the Kodiyettu function which  takes place on an auspicious day of the month,   the star associated with the day being ‘utratam’2. On all the ten days of the festival the regular pujas are performed as usual. Ezhunnellippu, which is conducted on all the ten days of the festival consists in carrying the replica  of the idol, on an elephant’s back in the carrier meant for the purpose.3 The elephant is beautifully caparisoned and is taken round the temple. The procession comes to an end when the circumbulations are over. This function is accompanied by temple music and it is the chief priest who holds the carrier on the elephant. On the tenth day the idol is taken to the sea for bathing.
Festivals at Kanyakumari Temple
In the temple dedicated to Bhagavathy at Kanyakumari. the annual  festivals  fall  in  the Tamil months of Vaicasi and Purattasi. 4 They are celebrated for ten days. The Vaicasi festival ends on the asterism of visakam and the other on the Vijayadasami day. The new moon day of Adi  and the full-moon day of Chittirai are very sacred in this temple.5 For performing Sradha thousands of pilgrims flock here on new-moon days.
Festivals at Mandaikad
In the Bhagavathi  Temple at Mandaikad, the annual  festival lasts  for ten days  during the month of Kumbham (March). It is celebrated by the Board and the Radhakrishnapuram Haindava Seva Sang. This is one of the biggest festivals in Kanyakumari District, The ‘Kodai’ festival conducted on the tenth day is very famous.6 It usually falls on the last Tuesday of the month. On  every Friday, a ceremony called ‘Valia Padukkai’ is conducted. On Tuesday night another ceremony called ‘Odukku Puja’ is conducted. Religious discourses  are arranged during the annual festival and they are attended by people from different parts of Kerala.7
Festivals in Subramoniya Temples
For propitiating Subramoniya, several festivals are conducted in temples.  The general   form in which vows are undertaken to propitiate Subramoniya is  the Kai—Eduppu or carrying of Kavadi.  Kavadi is generally decorated with ornamental wood work, tepestry and peacock-feathers. Kavadi Eduppu requires a priliminary viradham or preparation by fast and personal purity for 41 days   for a man, to carry out the Kavadi-vow.8 During these 41 days, he should abstain from all sorts of luxury and confine himself to a sparing diet of raw-rice and fruits. On the last day,   the deity is worshipped by means of puja. After this puja is over,   the pilgrim carries the Kavacii on his own shoulders  till he reaches the temple.  It is interesting to note that even boys of 6 or 7 years of age also take Kavadi  to the distant places.  It is believed that if the pilgrim had been pure of mind and body,   during his Viradham, the milk, sandal or rosewater or other things, carried by him to Subramoniya Temple, as his offering would be quite  fresh and pure though many days may have elapsed before they reach  the temple.
Festivals in Marungur Temple
In the shrine of Subramoniya at Marungur, the annual festival is conducted in the month of Aipasi for ten days. On the sixth day a grand festival known as Kanthasashti is conducted.9  Devotees  of Lord Muruga all  over the district observe fast for six days   and worship him  in this temple.  This  festival  is very popular in all Muruga Temples. Lord Muruga receives  the spear from the hands  of Parvathi  and with its  slays the demon ‘Soorapadman’ who had been harassing the celestial Devas. The Kandasashti  festival is otherwise known as Soora Samhara Vizha. This festival attracts  people from different
villages of Kanyakumari District.10  This   festival signifies the truth that the soul receives the supreme wisdom from Shiva’s  grace,   (Shiva-Sakthi)  find with that is able to overcome ignorance, and then reach  final  union with God.  In the month of Markali the Utsavar is  taken to Thanumalaya Temple at Suchindrum to take part in the  famous annual  festival held there.11
Festivals at Velimalai
In the Subramoniaswamy Temple at Velimalai, weekly and annual festivals are celebrated. It is customary even now for the pilgrims to worship Subramoniya at Velimalai in wet cloths soon after their bath and with folded hands above their heads. This unique type of worship cannot be found anywhere else in Tamilnadu.12 On all Fridays thousands  of devotees  flock to the shrine,   especially the last Fridays  of all the Tamil months. For the Keralites, Lord Muruga and His wife Valli are considered to be the most sacred family deities.    The devotees offer flowers  at the  feet of the Lord Muruga with high veneration.    According to the Tamil poet Nakkirar, Lord Muruga, appreciating  this  high devotion, presents himself eternally at this place.13 Even today the pushpabhishekam  at Velimalai is very famous.
Festivals in Ganapathi Temples
In the Ganapathi Temples, an important festival as   ‘Vinayaka Chathurthi’   is conducted every year. This festival  falls  in the month of Chingam.14  Two types of archanas are performed, besides the ordinary one. They are Sahasranama Archana  and ‘Thrisda Archana’ with  the uttering of the name three hundred times. ‘Muzhul Otappu’ is  done on the festival day. That is, the idol is completely anointed with sandal paste and the eyes, ears and nose are beautifully marked out giving it a charming appearance. Ganapathi Homam is also, performed on the Vinayagar Chathurthi day.15 Devotees offer ‘Vadamala’ to Ganapathi. Plenty of coconuts are also offered to Ganapathi.
Festivals in Avvaiyar Temples
In the Avvaiyar temples, ceremonies are performed as in the other temples  of Nanjilnad.16 Special ceremonies are performed on all Tuesdays in the month  of Adi. In this month, spinsters observe a  fasting called “Adi Avvai Nonbu”17. During this  fasting,  they conduct special prayers to the deity with the  offerings made in rice to invoke the mother goddess  to provide them with  husbands. This prayer is  not open to  the male devotees. It is  believed that Auvvai worship had developed from ‘Kurati  worship’ at Kuratiyara.18 Kurati was  the name of a  female Jain who lived at Kuratiyara,   a village adjacent to Alagiapandipuram.
Festivals in Sastha Temples
There is a fixed,   period for conducting  festival in the eastha  temples.  Actually the most important day of the  festival  falls  on the forty  first day and all those forty one days  are considered as auspicious. Usually this period starts from the first of the month of Vrichigam  (November-December) and lasts  for forty-one days  upto the beginning of the month  of Dhanusu (December-January) and this period is known as  ‘Mandalakalam’.19 All  these days are important and there is  a  forty-one day  festivals  in the temple of Ayyappan. Pilgrims who  wish  to go this  temple have to wear a chain specially made for this. They have  to  observe complete cleanliness, abstain  from  eating meat and they should crop their hair during  the  forty-one day period. They all  grow beards. Usually the wearing  of the chain is  undertaken in  the  temples  dedicated to Lord Sastha  and on the  first day of the Vrichigam month the worshippers  intending to go on the pilgrimage come to Sastha  temple and after offering the pujas,  wear the sacred chain.20  They loudly utter the names  of this  deity and break coconuts and offer other, articles  in the temples.  In most of the Sastha temples  the most important day is the first day of Makaram month  (14th January). It is for this, that numerous worshippers come to the Sastha temples in order to observe the pujas and offer prayers. This day is known as ‘Makaravilakku”.21 This day is very important in the Sastha temples and a good number of worshippers are found on this day. It is an occasion not only to worship at the deity’s altar, but also to meet friends and make new acquaintances.
By the Hindus, a whole array of Gods are popularly worshipped, each of them embodying different virtues and qualities of the supreme being.22 Festivals are held at different times of the year in honour of the Gods represented by images in the temples or in the dwelling of householders. The actual rites on all these occasions are usually performed by priests specially employed and not ordinarily by the pilgrim of the households, who may be present but does not take part in the ritual.23
References
1.    Dinamalar, dated 10.09.1989.
2.    K.K.Pillai, The Suchindrum Temple, Madras, 1953, p.207.
3.    Ibid.
4.    S.Padmanabhan, Temples in Kanyakumari District, Nagercoil, 1970, p.7.
5.    Ibid.
6.    T.K.Velu Pillai, The Travancore State Manual, Vol.IV, Trivandrum, 1940, p.598.
7.    Ibid.
8.    V.Nagam Aiya, The Travancore state Manual, Vol.II, Trivandrum, 1906, p.52.
9.    S.Padmanabhan, Op.Cit.,p.25.
10.    Ibid.
11.    Ibid.
12.    Ibid., p.77.
13.    Ibid.
14.    Ibid.
15.    Ibid.
16.    S.Padmanabhan, Kumari Mavatta Kovilkal, Nagercolil, 1970, p.92.
17.    S.D. Lourdu, Nattar Iyal Aabugal, Tirunelveli, 1981, p.120.
18.    Muppanthal Neely Katahi, Unpublished palm leaf.
19.    The period of sacred forty one days.
20.    P.W.D. File No.316, Year 1914.
21.    Ibid.
22.    C.H.Philips, India, Delhi, 1948, p.17.
23.    A.C.Chatterjee, The New India, Delhi, 1948, p.33.

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