K.A.Viswanathan
Palakkad: Curtains fell on the three-day car festival (Rathotsavam) ,at Kalpathy Village in Palakkad district with all six temple chariots of the four temples moving one behind the other and formed “Ratha Sangamom” in front of the Viswanatha Swami temple . This also marks the beginning of chariot festivals in temples associated with 18 of the 96 agraharams established by the Tamil Brahmins in the 14th century.
The highlight of the festival was the carting of huge, intricately carved , beautifully decorated chariots, through the streets of Kalpathy and Chattapuram villages by thousands of devotees with Pancha vadhyam and chanting of Vedic hymes by vedic scholars and students. It is said the Kalpathy car festival is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the country, and next only to the Puri Jagannath Swamy temple car festival and it attracts tourists from all over the world.
Traditionally, the village of Kalpathy has a settlement of Tamil Brahmins who migrated from Mayavaram, Kumbhakonam & in and around Tanjoor Dist. to the villages in the 14th century. The Viswanathaswamy Temple by the side of the Kalpathy river Neela Nadhi is the nerve centre of festivities and temple was built in 1425 A.D and is considered to be the oldest Siva temple in South Kerala . The Kalpathy chariot festival was also the biggest of festivals in the Malabar region, when the region was under the Madras presidency during the British rule. Kalpathy is also known as Dakshin Kasi or the Varanasi of the South.
This year the Rathotsavam began on November 14 with the main deities Goddess Vishalakshi and Lord Viswanatha Swamy being taken out in chariots in a procession around the villages along with Lord Vigneswara and Lord Subramaniya swamy. Thousands took part in the ritual of tugging the chariots. On the second day the deity of Mandakara Maha Ganapathy of new Kalpathy was taken out and on the third day the Sree Lakshminarayana Perumal of old Kalpathy and Sree Parsanna Maha Ganapathy of Chathathapuram were taken out in the morning and in the evening Chariots of all four temples belongs to Chattapuram, Old Kalpathy and New Kalpathy moving one behind another and formed Sangamom in between and then returned to their base. After abhishekams the deities were decorated and taken out in a floral palanquin and this marks the end of entire celebrations.
The salient feature of the festival was the part played by the youngsters of the villages in decorating the chariots and helping in processions said 80 year old resident of New Kalpathy Mr.K.V.Ganesan who was associated with the festival for more than six decades. “Unlike earlier days when only villagers used to take part in such festivals ,with the improvement of transport systems, government support and media publicity has attracted people from all over the world like U.S, UK and Gulf countries besides people from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore have come to witness the festival”.
The president of the organizing committee Mr.K.K.Venkateswaran said they have replaced the chariot’s large wooden wheels with cast-iron wheels and only one elephant was present to push the chariot as and when required ,symbolically.
On all days the village deities were decorated in different forms like Mooshika vahanam , Ashwa vahanam, Gaja vahanam and Garuda vahanam and taken around the villages in the evenings. It is no wonder that devotees from around the world throng to see the festival every year.
