Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Navaratri idols reach city

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In keeping with a 169-year-old custom, the idols of Saraswathi Devi, Munnootti Nanga and Kumaraswamy arrived in the city on Monday evening, heralding the commencement of the Narvartri festival.

While the idol of Saraswathi Devi was brought on an elephant, that of Kumaraswamy was brought on a silver horse and Munnootti Nanga on a palanquin.

The head of the ruling family of erstwhile Travancore, Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, received the idols near the Navaratri Mandapam and offered the traditional ‘Kanikka.’ After the ‘deeparadhana,’ the idols of Kumaraswamy and Munnootti Nanga were taken to the Aryasala devi temple and the Chenthitta devi temple, respectively, while the idol of Saraswathi devi was taken to the Navarathri Mandapam after an ‘Arat’ for ‘Nalliruppu.’ The idol will be installed at the Pakadasala on Tuesday morning after a puja.

While the idol of Saraswathi Devi is brought from Padmanabhapuram, the idol of Kumaraswamy was brought from Veli Mala and Munnootti Nanga from Sucheendram.

The Saraswathi idol is of AD 1200 vintage and is believed to be the one worshipped by the Tamil poet Kambar. For many years, the Navaratri celebrations used to be held at Padmanabhapuram.

The celebrations were held at Mavelikara a couple of times during the reign of the king Swathi Tirunal. The rule was that the celebrations would be held wherever the king of Travancore was at the time of Navaratri.

It was Swathi Tirunal who, in 1839, decided to make Thiruvananthapuram the permanent venue of the celebrations. Traditionally, music concerts and a ‘Vidwath Sadassu’ of Sanskrit scholars used to be organised in connection with the festival. Though the tradition of music concerts continues to this day, the ‘Vidwath Sadassu’ has not been organised for many years now.

Till 1925, the concerts at the Navaratri Nandapam were the prerogative of Mullammoodu Bhagavathars, a team of musicians in the court of Swathi Tirunal, and their descendants. Even today, the concerts in the 5.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot are rendered by the descendants.

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