Colourful ‘Garuda sevai’ festival in Thanjavur

Thanjavur: The 81st ‘Duvadasa Garuda sevai’ festival on Monday here witnessed a splendid array of 24 tastefully decorated lord Vishnu deities being taken in a procession through the town’s arterial roads, adding colour and religious fervour to the celebrations.

The processional deities of 24 Perumal temples here, mounted on ‘Garuda vaahana’ (lord Vishnu’s vehicle), went around the town’s east, west, north and south main streets, to the sheer delight of hundreds of devotees who performed ‘poojas’ at various points en route. All the deities were earlier brought to Kodimarathumoolai at 0700 hrs this morning, from where the procession started.

The Vishnu deities taken in procession today included Neelamegar, Manikunnar, Narasimhar, Velur Varadarajar, Kalyana Venkatesar, Kaliyuga Venkatesar, Varadaraja Perumal, Navanaeetha Krishnar, Melavasal Ranganathar, Vijayaramar, Janardhana Perumal, and Prasanna Venkatesar. The deities eventually reached the respective temples by 11 a.m.

Though ‘Garuda sevai’ is usually held in Thirunangoor and Kumbakonam in the district, it is only in Thanjavur that so many Vishnu deities are taken in procession at the same time.

The ‘Garuda sevai’ is called ‘Duvadasa Garuda sevai’ as an ardent Vishnu devotee, Duvadasa Garudalvar Dasar, introduced it 80 years ago. He had lived at Palli agraharam near here.

This festival was jointly organised by the ‘Ramanuja Darsana Sabaiyar’ and the Thanjavur Palace ‘Devasthanam’.