Thousands witness consecration
The Maha Rathothsavam will be held on Saturday.
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-05-02 06:46 GMT
Chidambaram: Several thousands of devotees thronged the Nataraja temple here and witnessed the Mahakumbabishekam, which was performed after a gap of 28 years, in a grand manner on Friday morning.
The Podudikshitars, the hereditary custodians-cum-archakas of the temple, who had won protracted legal battle on temple custody, performed the consecration. Pundits and Odhuvars chanted hymns from the Vedas and Tamil scriptures. At the auspicious time, the Mahakumbabishekam was performed simultaneously for the four Rajagopurams — the Thathpurusha on the east, Sathyojatha on the west, Vamadeva on the north and Aghora on the south.
Hundreds of devotees climbed onto the top of temple prakarams to get a closer view of the impressive mahakumbabishekam being performed at gopura kalasams of the Chitsaba (sanctum sanctoram), Kanakasabai (Artha Mandapam) and Rajasabai (the 1,000-pillar mandapam). Owing to the huge
turnout of devotees from various parts of the state and also from Malaysia and Singapore, the temple town also witnessed about 4,000 police personnel drawn up for the smooth conduct of the event.
The Maha Rathothsavam will be held on Saturday. The temple, located about 78 km south of Puducherry and 235 km from Chennai, is one of the five holiest Shiva temples, representing akasha (aether).