Tirunelveli: Over 5 lakh devotees witness Soorasamharam

Tirunelveli: More than five lakh devotees witnessed the ‘Soorasamharam’ event on the sixth day of the ‘Kanda Sashti’ festival on Tuesday at Tiruchendur - the second abode of Lord Muruga. 

The temple was opened for devotees in the wee hours of 1 am on Tuesday, following which ‘Vishwaroopa Darshan’ and ‘Vijayamarthanda Abishegam’ were performed at 1:30 am and 2 am respectively. 

Later, after regular ‘Poojas’, Lord Jeyanthinathar (Lord Muruga) was taken in a procession in the golden temple car at around 2 pm to the ‘Sashti Mandapam’, from where the Lord was taken to the sea shore to vanquish the demon king Soorapadman at around 5:40 pm. 

Before that, the ritual of the Lord with the spear beheading Gajamugasooran and the Singamugasooran was observed. 

After defeating Soorapadman, Lord Jeyanthinathar was taken to the ‘Santhosha Mandapam’, where special ‘Abishegam’ was performed. 

Later in the evening, devotees took a holy dip in the sea and concluded their six-day fast. ‘Thirukalyanam’ will be performed on the seventh day of the ‘Sashti’ festival, temple sources told DC. 

Traffic handled well: 
Traffic congestion at Tiruchendur during the Soorasamharam day of the Kanda Sashti festival was well managed by the Thoothukudi district police. 

Unlike the previous year, when around 6,000 car passes were issued to permit four wheelers up to the temple bus stand that created great discomfort to the devotees, this year on the suggestion of the district police, distribution of car passes to the public was restricted to 1,500 this year. 

Adequate parking facilities were arranged at 12 spots and four temporary bus terminals were set up from where government and private mini buses were operated to transport the devotees up to the temple. 

The sanitary facilities, however, were not satisfactory as only 100 temporary toilets had been set up to cater to the need of the devotees, who converged in lakh to witness ‘Soorasamharam’.