Lakshadeepam.....The pride of Thiruvananthapuram

- January 21, 2020

Hello,
Happy New Year to everybody. Let this year bring us new hopes, peace, happiness and some more light in our lives. And what better way to start this year than writing something about the festival of Lakshadeepam (means lakhs of lights) which was celebrated last week in Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple of Trivandrum. I consider myself very fortunate that I was in Trivandrum this time of the year as this festival occurs only once in 6 years. My trip during this time of the year won't take place usually, but this one was half planned. I will be cherishing this trip for a long time as we had so much fun going for movies, attending a musical concert by Shri Sanjay Subramaniam, visiting the first ever wax museum in the city, making a trip to Jataayupaara (rock of Jataayu bird-the mythological bird of Ramayana), celebrating the Pongal festival with my parents, a meet up with my school friends.

Every major festival in temples celebrated will have a history behind it and so this one has. This was started by Thiruvithancore or Travancore king Shri Marthanda Varma around 250 years back to atone for the sins committed during the wars to expand his kingdom. Lakshadeepam or lighting lakhs of lamps is celebrated around the middle of January after less than 2 months of chanting of the vedas by pundits or scholars. The vedas are chanted in eight rounds each round extending for 7 days. After each seven days, a sacred procession, which is known as Shiveli, is held in temple carrying a deity. This year, Jalajapa or chanting of vedas in water was held on the 1st day of Murajapam after a gap of 100 years in Padmatheertham pond premises in front of the main entrance of the temple.

A couple of centuries back, before the invention of electricity, I cannot imagine how much pains and effort would have gone to light those enormous numbers of lamps and keep them burning. These days, the main and adjacent towers are illuminated using electric bulbs. Lots of glass candles were lit at many places. On the first day the crowd was uncontrollable and swelling and so we went on 2nd and 3rd days. I had vague memories of witnessing this mega event during my childhood days and so I wanted to renew those memories as much as possible. I could take photos only outside the temple, as inside the temple the phones and cameras were not allowed. I wanted to vlog (video logging) this event, but that did not happen. So I am posting some photos and a couple of short videos. Enjoy.