The Rain Gods let the rain fall steadily and pleasantly in and around Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple, Mylapore on Sunday evening ( August 23) even as the annual Panniru Thirumurai festival featured the finale.
The rain was welcome but the priests of the temple chose to shorten the Sunday evening rituals. In the morning, the Panniru Thirumurai was taken out in a procession on the elephant vahanam.
In the evening, abhishekam was performed for the four Saivite saints – Thirugnana-sambandar, Thirunavukkarasar ( Appar), Sundarar and Manickkavasagar – and they were taken out in a symbolic procession inside the temple since the rain remained steady – the tradition is to have the procession through the Mada Streets.
The festival started on August 11 and the focus was on the recitation of the Tamil sacred hymns written by Saivite saints in praise of lord Shiva.
Every evening, an odhuvar recited and sang a particular Thirumurai and this was followed by ’sorpozhivu’ ( discourse).
