MAHALINGASWAMY TEMPLE CAR FESTIVAL AND THEERTHAVARI

The car festival of Sri Mahalingaswamy Temple at Thiruvidaimaruthur near Kumbakonam was held on Wednesday. The festival assumed significance as it took place after 78 years with a new car.

The beautifully decorated car, with Mahalingaswamy mounted on it, proceeded elegantly along the four “raja veedhis” (main streets) with the voices of hundreds of devotees resonating with “Mahalinga”. Sri Sivaprakasa Swamigal of Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, to which the Temple belongs, and Sri Dayananda Saraswathi, head of the car renovation committee, inaugurated the festival by pulling the car. Bulldozers pushed the car from behind.

The car that was led by the temple elephant is 32 ft high, 30 ft wide, and weighs 250 tonnes. The new car constructed with 2,800 cubic ft of wood, has 282 wooden sculptures of various forms, 68 sculptures of small elephants, 130 sculptures of musical instruments,16 sculptures of horses, and 260 bronze bells hanging from it. It was with the efforts of Dayananda Saraswathi, founder of Coimbatore Anaikatti Arsha Vidya, that the car was newly constructed. The renovation committee comprises Sivaprakasa Swamigal of Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, industrialist Pollachi N. Mahalingam, Babaji Rajah Bhonsle, senior prince of Thanjavur, and others. Thiruvidaimaruthur is considered ‘Bhooloka Kailasam' by the devotees. Varaguna Pandiyan is said to have been freed of his ‘Brahmahathi dosham' by worshipping lord.