Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Celebrating an age-old temple tradition

Photo: S. Gopakumar

BEDECKED: The ‘Sheeveli’ gets under way at the Sreepadmanabhaswamy Temple where ‘one lakh lights’ kept their tryst with tradition on ‘Lakshadeepam’ day on Tuesday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Keeping alive a tradition that began in AD 1750, ‘Lakshadeepam’ was celebrated at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the city on Monday, the day of the winter solstice (Makara-sankranthi).

Thousands of electric bulbs and oil lamps lit up the sprawling Temple complex and the towering ‘Gopuram’ as devotees waited in line for hours to enter the Temple premises to see the ‘sheeveli.’

By 8.15 p.m., the ‘vahanam’ of the presiding deity and that of Narasimha Moorthy were brought to the eastern corridor where the head of the ruling family of erstwhile Travancore Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma offered ‘Kaanikka’ and a length of silk cloth. After the ‘deeparadhana’ to the deities, the ‘ghattiyam’— hymns in praise of Sree Padmanabha composed by Swathi Tirunal — were recited. When the ‘Sheeveli’ procession reached the western corridor to the accompaniment of Kalyani ragam being played on the ‘Kurumkuzhal’, the ‘vahanam’ of Sree Krishnaswamy joined those of the other deities. From here, the strains of ‘yadukula kamboji’— the ragam of the day — escorted the three deities for the rest of the procession that was led by an ox and a horse and by the Temple elephant Darshini.

After the third round of ‘Sheeveli’ the ‘vahanams’ of Sree Padmanabha and Narasimha moorthy were taken inside the sanctum sanctorum, marking the culmination of the day’s observances. On Tuesday, Mr. Varma will offer an elephant to the Temple deity as part of the Lakshadeepam festival.

As in the previous years, the Lakshadeepam was preceded by 56 days of ‘murajapam’ and 19 days of ‘kalabham’ at the Temple. During the ‘sheeveli’ on summer and winter solstices, there is a ‘bhadradeepam’ ceremony at the Temple. Every twelfth ‘bhadradeepam’ becomes the ‘Lakshadeepam.’ The first ‘bhadradeepam’ was celebrated in the Temple in 1744. There are archival references of ‘makara sheeveli’ being celebrated in the Temple in AD 1459. Then it was called the ‘Ayana Sankranthi Azhakiya Manikka Sheeveli.’

Governor R. L. Bhatia was among those who participated in the Lakshadeepam.

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