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| Nellaiappar Chariot festival, Thirunelveli,TN thehindu.com |
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| Nellaiappar Chariot festival, Thirunelveli,TN commons.wikimedia.org |
The annual temple Car festival of Nellaiappar Kovil is a popular one and was held last week. Nellaiappar-Kanthimathi Ambal temple dedicated to God Shiva is a sprawling temple full of amazing stone sculpture of various sizes and is famous for musical pillars and big mantaps (halls).It is built on a 14 and half acre of land on the banks of Tambirabharani. It was built much earlier than 7th century sung in glory by Saivite saints Nayanmars and it is an important Paadal Petra Sthalam.
After a gap of two years, the chariot festival was conducted at Nellaiappar Temple on last Monday and thousands of devotees thronged the temple to witness the chariot procession. This festival is a deep rooted and traditional one as far as this temple of great antiquity is concerned. The temple chariot is said to be the third largest one in Tamil Nadu, the first being Thiruvarur Azhi Ther and the second one -Chariot belonging to Sarangapani Perumal Temple, Kumbakonam.
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| Nellaiappar temple, Thirunelveli, TN commons.wikimedia.org/ |
Chariot pulling or Therrotam is an integral part of temple festival in which thousands of devotees participate with devotion and pull the chariot. Particularly the month of Adi -June-July is an auspicious one and many Hindu festivals take place during this month.
As for the Nellaiappar car festival, "this 'aani perumtherottom' (the chariot procession) that had been carried out for decades around this time of the year, was not held for two consecutive years. Reason; COVID -19 Pandemic and restrictions by the state government.to avoid crowds that would throng festival events.
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| Nellaiappar temple Prakara (Corridor),Thirunelveli.flicker.com |
This year the therottam - running of the car was held with great enthusiasm and the huge Ther - well decorated chariot that began the long journey around 9.30 am was pulled all along the four Ratha streets including Pilliyar kovil Mukku, Lala Chatram,etc round the Nellaiappar temple amidst a sea of humanities. The huge chariot with a tall canopy experienced a minor glitch during the procession and after an hour of repair work it began rolling down the street The chariot finally reached the destination on East Ratha street between Ammbal and Swami Sannidhis in the afternoon. .
The festival event began as per Agama Sastras on July 3, after the customary flag-hoisting on the temple premises and the officials lost no time to make elaborate arrangements to welcome thousands of devotees from across the State. " More than 1,000 police personnel were on duty at various places including the temple for security reasons and to avoid untoward incidents that may be created by anti-social or a section of atheist group. During the festive days daily mangala Abisheham and deepa Aarathana was held for the goddess and there was a religious procession on the streets around the temple.
https://news.tirunelveli.today/ani-chariot-procession-at-nellaiappar-temple/
 Car festival held last week after a gap of two years){kind=link}