Kerala - Thrissur   

Ashtami Rohini celebrated

Thrissur: Ashtami Rohini, the birthday of Lord Krishna, was celebrated with traditional gaiety and religious fervour on Wednesday in Guruvayur. Tens of thousands of devotees thronged the Sreekrishna Temple to have the darshan of Guruvayurappan. Long queues of devotees were seen right from morning to witness various programmes and rituals.

Hundreds of children dressed up as little Krishna and his ‘Gopis' perked up the celebration at the temple town. The special ‘seeveli' ritual was led by the elephant Guruvayur Padmanabhan, which carried the ‘golden kolam.' The ‘seeveli' was accompanied by percussion by Peruvanam Kuttan Marar in the morning and ‘panchavadyam' by Kalamandalam Parameswaran in the evening.

Devotees were served the birthday feast of Lord Krishna. According to Devaswom sources nearly 20,000 devotees partook of the feast. There was also a heavy rush for booking various offerings at the temple. According to the temple sources, ‘appam,' which is the special offering on the Ashtami Rohini day, registered a booking for Rs.2.6 lakh.

Special processions were taken out from the Mammiyur temple to Guruvayur. Percussion, tableaux, ‘pookkavadi' and folk art forms were part of the procession. Additional staff were deployed to control the rush. The police also had a tough time.

Devaswom Minister Kadannappilly Ramachandran presented the ‘Guruvayurappan Award' to Kalamandalam Prabhakaran at a function held at the Melpathur auditorium of the temple. Devaswom chairman Thottathil Raveendran presided over the function.

Ashtami Rohini was celebrated with various programmes in Thrissur too. Balagokulam organised about 100 ‘sobha yatras' in the city.

‘Uriyadi' competitions and ‘go pujas' were also held on the occasion.

Lord Krishna's birthday was celebrated with elaborate programmes in Thiruvambady temple. A special ‘Usha Sheeveli' was performed with five tuskers. ‘Ashtapathi' recital by Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, ‘Bhakthiganamanjari' by Ravi Varma and team, ‘Panchari Melam' by Mattannur Sankarankutty and Ottan Thullal by K.P. Nandipulam were the highlights of the celebrations. Hundreds partook of the birthday feast at Kousthubham Auditorium.

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