Thrissur: More than 7,000 kids were introduced to the world of letters at Thiruvullakkavu Sreedharmasastha Temple here on Vijayadasami on Friday.
The temple with its deity, Sastha, who is believed to have deep knowledge in Vedas, is one among the two temples in the state famous for the ‘ezhuthiniruthu’ ceremony, the other temple being Dakshina Mookambika Temple in Panachikkadu in Kottayam.
According to temple authorities, this year there was a considerable decrease in the number of devotees who turned up for prayers and the kids who turned up of ‘ezhuthiniturthu’ on the Deshami day.
Normally, more than a lakh of devotees turn up at the temple on the Vidhyarambam day.
“Last year, nearly 9,000 kids were introduced into the world of letters at the temple and this year it was between 6,000 and 7,000. The reason for the decline in the number of devotees and the kids of ‘ezhuthiniruthu’ may be because of the deluge in August, the heavy rains before the day break on Friday and also because of the tension at Sabarimala that several devotees where sitting glued to the TV to know whether any of the women aged in between 10 and 50 years are entering the hilly shrine,” A.A. Kumaran, secretary of the temple said.
He said that except on the Atham day in the Malayalam month of Meenam, and on Navami during ‘adachu pooja’ (closed pooja) the ‘ezhuthiniruthu’ ceremony was being conducted at Thiruvullakkavu.
“There was rush in the afternoon and we also expect kids for the ‘Vidhyarambam’ on Saturday,” Kumaran said.
The ‘ezhuthiniruthu’ ceremony began at 4.30 a.m. and acharays’ were led by the eldest among Thiruvullakkavu Warriam, Sreedhara Warrier.
The temple is believed to have a history of 2,000 years.
Even though the temple does not have a Saraswathi idol, the presence of the goddess of knowledge and wisdom is believed to have been in the temple during Navartri celebrations.
The officials of the temple devaswom said that people had arrived from across Kerala and even from other states at Perumbillissery here to make children write their first letter ‘Om Hari Sree Ganapathaye Nama’ in praise of Lord Ganesha.
The ‘ezhuthiniruthu’ ceremony conducted by 50 acharyas ended by 1.30 p.m. and another one-hour-long session was held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m in the evening.
There were nearly 125 policemen and 150 volunteers to control the huge rush of devotees in the temple on Vijayadasami.
