TIRUCHENDUR: It was a sea of humanity at the shore temple town of Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi district on Saturday evening with several lakh devotees from far and near thronging to witness the ‘Soorasamharam’ -the climax of the six-day Kanda Sashti festival-, at Arulmigu Subramanyaswamy temple, the popular abode here for Lord Murugan revered worldwide as the ‘God of the Tamils’.
Commencing with ‘Yagasala pooja’ on October 31, the Kanda Sashti festival was attended by more than three lakh devotees, who observed fasts and stayed in the temple premises, attending all the special ‘poojas’ and ‘abishegams’ performed to the presiding deity, Sri Subramanya Swamy on all the six days. The devotees who fasted on the temple premises included foreign Tamils from Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, London and Canada.
On ‘Soorasamharam’ day on Saturday, Lord Jayanthinathar was brought to the seashore around 4.30 pm to behead the first demon Gajamugasooran at 4.47 pm. After 15 minutes, the second demon Singamugasooran and finally the demon king, Soorapadhman were annihilated. After this, the devotees ended their six-day fast after taking a holy sea dip.
State minister Kadambur Raj, Thoothukudi district collector M Ravikumar, HR&CE commissioner Veera Shanmugamani, along with many other dignitaries participated in the festival. Around 1,800 policemen were deployed to monitor security at the festival under the direct supervision of the South zone IG Murugan, Tirunelveli range DIG, Dinakaran and Thoothukudi district SP, Mr. Aswin Kotnis.
The Southern Railway operated special services from Tirunelveli to Tiruchendur for the benefit of devotees. The TNSTC operated around 300 special buses from Madurai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Nagercoil to Tiruchendur for the soorasamharam festival at Tiruchendur.
