Kerala - Kochi   

Day of prayers and memories

—Photo: H. Vibhu

Solemn moments: People thronging the banks of Periyar to offer ‘bali’ as part of the Sivarathri festival at Aluva on Thursday.

KOCHI: The Aluva sand banks of the Periyar were full of devotees early morning on Thursday and many more arrived as the day broke to offer bali to the departed souls. Thousands camped at the sand banks chanting prayers and fasting the night to mark Sivarathri.

The temporary foot-bridge that was constructed by the Aluva municipality helped the devotees reach the river banks without difficulty. The fee charged by the authorities at Rs.5 for two-way and Rs.3 for one-way was welcomed largely by the devotees.

Prior to this, they had to take the country boats to reach the Mahadeva temple where rituals are held on the occasion of Sivarathri. This method -- of transporting large number of devotees across the Periyar in country boats from Kottarakkadavu to the sand banks where the rituals are held -- was regarded as unsafe and so passes were not issued for these boats this time. The main ritual of Sivarathri began at the Mahadeva temple from Wednesday midnight. Thantri Chennas Parameswaran Namboodiri and chief priest Mullappally Subramanian Namboodiri led the ceremonies. Travancore Devaswom Board president C.K. Guptan was present during the rituals on Wednesday.

‘Vilakku,’ the main ceremony was followed by a dip in the Periyar after which the devotees used the balitharas — temporarily built small platforms to offer bali. The Travancore Devaswom Board had made elaborate arrangements for around 2,000 devotees to offer bali at a time. There were also arrangements to distribute the temple’s offerings to the devotees.

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