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| Sri Andal temple, Srivilliputhur, TN.flickr.com |
Above image: Main Gopuram/tower, SriVilliputhur Andal temple, Tamil Nadu.: This is the only temple where flowers are worn by goddess before taken to perumal sanadhi.....................
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| Lord Vishnu (Rangamannar) and consort Andal. tamilbrahmins.com |
Sri Andal temple at Srivilliputhur, TN is a popular one dedicated to Sri Andal Nachiyar, daughter of Azhwar saint Priazhwar and consort of lord Vishnu; here Vishnu is known as Rangamanner or Vadapathrasayi. One among the important Divya Desam shrines glorified by the Azhwar saints of 6th to 9th centuries, Sri Andal wrote Thirupavai - devotional hymns which are recited in all Vaishnavite temple across Tamil Nadu during the month of Margazhi (December - January). Equally famous are the hymns Thirupallandu composed by saint Periyazhwar. The temple's main tower is one of the tallest in Tamil Nadu and is the emblem of Tamil Nadu government.
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| Srivilliputhur, Tamil Nadu, India. Weather-Forecast.com |
Aadi Pooram festival - a 12 day event is celebrated on a grand scale every year and it falls in the Tamil month of Aadi (July - August) in Tamil Nadu and also in other southern states. Celebrations start on the day of Poorum Nakshatram (Poorum star). It is also known as Sri Andal Jayanthi - the birthday of Sri Andal who is believed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and also of Sakthi Devi.
Every year Aadi Pooram car festival, highlight of the festival season, is celebrated with pomp, but this year though thousands of devotees from across the State turned up, it was held on Wednesday as a simple function with the presiding deities - processional idols of Lord Rengamannar and Goddess Andal mounted on the golden chariot after special pujas and abishekam. The chariot was pulled on the temple premises followed by a limited gathering. People maintained social distancing as required by the temple authorities. Tradition has it the huge car with the deities mounted on it will be pulled along the four Car streets abound the temple. This year it was cancelled and instead it was held within the temple as mentioned before. Poorum is the birth star of Sri Andal hence the celebrations gain importance. .
Since the COVID -19 second wave threat has been there though it is gradually decaling, the state government has called off for the consecutive second year the car festival event on the four streets. This event would normally attract more than 50000 to 70000 devotes from the neighboring places.
This year the car festival event took place in the presence of senior govt. officials including Virudunagar Collector.
