Coimbatore : As part of the ongoing Aadi Kundam festival, thousands of devotees converged at the Vanabathrakali Amman Temple in Mettupalayam on Tuesday to perform the ritual of walking barefoot across a fire pit filled with burning embers.
Coimbatore : As part of the ongoing Aadi Kundam festival, thousands of devotees converged at the Vanabathrakali Amman Temple in Mettupalayam on Tuesday to perform the ritual of walking barefoot across a fire pit filled with burning embers.
The festivity was celebrated with religious fervour and pomp, as devotees took a dip at the sacred River Bhavani and waited in long queues to descend into the sacred fire pit.
The festival flag-off event of the 27th Aadi Kundam festival was held on July 23, henceforth special poojas were held every day. The week-long celebration will end today accompanied with special day-long poojas for the presiding deity and free annadhanam for the devotees.
The poojas started as early as 3 AM at the sanctum sanctorum. Subsequently, the decorated idol of the Goddess was carried as a procession to the Bhavani river bank, and the fire was lit for the Kundam ritual.
As per the ritual, the Chief priest of the temple got down first in the 20-feet-long fire pit (Kundam) covered with embers. Following which men, women, teenagers and even senior citizens walked past the fire pit by chanting the name of the goddess.
Devotees from various districts including Coimbatore, Tirupur, Nilgiris, Salem and others took part in the event.
Special buses were operated for the convenience of the devotees. Toilet and drinking water facilities were also arranged at various locations inside the temple premise.
As per the orders of Sujit Kumar, Superintendent of Police (Coimbatore district) more than 500 policemen were deployed for security. To avoid any unforseen events, the policemen were seen regulating the crowd at the fire place.
The festivity was celebrated with religious fervour and pomp, as devotees took a dip at the sacred River Bhavani and waited in long queues to descend into the sacred fire pit.
The festival flag-off event of the 27th Aadi Kundam festival was held on July 23, henceforth special poojas were held every day. The week-long celebration will end today accompanied with special day-long poojas for the presiding deity and free annadhanam for the devotees.
The poojas started as early as 3 AM at the sanctum sanctorum. Subsequently, the decorated idol of the Goddess was carried as a procession to the Bhavani river bank, and the fire was lit for the Kundam ritual.
As per the ritual, the Chief priest of the temple got down first in the 20-feet-long fire pit (Kundam) covered with embers. Following which men, women, teenagers and even senior citizens walked past the fire pit by chanting the name of the goddess.
Devotees from various districts including Coimbatore, Tirupur, Nilgiris, Salem and others took part in the event.
Special buses were operated for the convenience of the devotees. Toilet and drinking water facilities were also arranged at various locations inside the temple premise.
As per the orders of Sujit Kumar, Superintendent of Police (Coimbatore district) more than 500 policemen were deployed for security. To avoid any unforseen events, the policemen were seen regulating the crowd at the fire place.