The procession of idols as part of the Navaratri festival set out from Padmanabhapuram Palace at Thuckalay in Kanyakumari district to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday in an atmosphere of religious fervour.
While the idol of Saraswathi Devi was carried atop an elephant, those of Munnoottinanga and Kumaraswamy were carried in palanquins. Earlier, Kerala Devaswom Minister K. Radhakrishnan handed over the ceremonial sword to Tamil Nadu Minister P.K. Sekhar Babu and Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran at the palace to mark the ritual heralding the procession.
General Education Minister V. Sivankutty, C.K. Hareendran, MLA, Kanyakumari District Collector M. Aravind and Travancore Devaswom Board president K. Anandagopan were among those present. Armed police units from Kerala and Tamil Nadu offered a guard of honour before the idols were accorded a formal reception by the Kerala government.
After an overnight stopover at the Mahadeva temple, Kuzhithurai, the procession will reach Kaliyikkavila on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border on Saturday morning. The idols will stay at the Sri Krishna Swamy temple, Neyyattinkara, on Saturday night and reach Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday evening where the ceremonial sword will be accorded a reception.
The idol of Saraswathy Devi will be kept at the mandapam at the eastern gate of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple for the duration of the Navaratri festival, while the idol of Kumaraswamy will be kept at the Devi temple, Aryasala, and that of Munnoottinanga at the Chenthitta temple.
The procession will head back to Padmanabhapuram on October 7.
