The famous ‘Aazhi Ther’ festival of the Arulmigu Sri Thyagarajaswamy temple at Tiruvarur was held on Sunday amid religious fervour with devotees in large numbers pulling the temple car.
The 96-foot high magnificently decorated and towering wooden car weighing around 350 tonnes and equipped with iron wheels and hydraulic braking system was made ready for the annual ‘Panguni Uthiram Peruvizha’ of the temple.
The celebrations began with the hoisting of the holy flag at the temple on March 6. The highlight of the event was the car festival on Sunday which attracted devotees from various places to the temple town of Tiruvarur. The idol of Sri Thyagararaja was brought in a holy procession to the ‘Aazhi Ther’. After the temple cars carrying Lord Vinayaka and Lord Murugan were taken out in a procession at the crack of dawn around the four Veedhis, the ‘Aazhi Therottam’ commenced.
The decorated ‘Aazhi Ther’ was pulled by devotees from the Keezha Veedhi in large numbers around 9 a.m. amid chants of “Aroora” and “Thyagesa”. Devotees lined up along the four Veedhis and offered worship to the deity as the grand temple car passed through the Keezha Veedhi, Therkku Veedhi, Mela Veedhi, and Vadakku Veedhi in a day-long procession before coming to the ‘Nilayadi’ from where it started in the morning.
