Tiruvarur temple priest falls off chariot, dies
Sivachariyaar was rushed to the Government medical college hospital here from where he was referred to a private hospital in Thanjavaur.
Tiruvarur: The chief priest of the Sri Thiyagaraja Swamy temple here, Murali Sivachariyaar (56) died after he accidentally fell off the temple car while performing poojas to the processional deity of Goddess Kamalambigai after the temple chariot reached its base at Tiruvarur on Friday night.
The Thiyagaraja Swamy temple is one of the popular Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu and the annual Adipooram festival began on July 24 with flag hoisting ceremony.
As part of the festival, the processional deity of Goddess Kamalambigai was taken in a temple car on Friday through main thoroughfares and reached its base around 8.30 pm. Even as priest Murali Sivachariyaar was performing the closing poojas to the deity in the temple car, he accidentally fell to the ground from a height of 15 feet.
Sivachariyaar was rushed to the Government medical college hospital here from where he was referred to a private hospital in Thanjavaur. But the priest succumbed to head injuries there, police said on Saturday