Fervour and piety marks Tamil New Year celebrations in TN, PM extends wishes

The Tamils ushered in the 'Puthandu Subhakritu' New Year with religious fervour and piety as several families visited the temples to commence the new year with divine blessings. The day also marked an important religious event in the temple town of Madurai where the celestial wedding of Goddess Meenakshi with Lord Sundareshwarar was performed in the presence of thousands of devotees.

Ahead of the celestial wedding, which took place on the 10th day of the annual Chithirai festival at the renowned Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple, the marriage stage was decorated with tons of flowers. People consider it as very auspicious to witness the divine marriage.

The Tamil New Year or Varsha Pirappu is celebrated in the Tamil month of Chithirai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings to the Tamil people on his Twitter page.

''Puthuandu greetings to everyone, especially my Tamil sisters and brothers. May the coming year be marked with success and happiness. May all your aspirations be fulfilled. May everyone be happy and healthy,'' he said in the messages posted in English and Tamil.

Tamil 'Superstar' Rajinikanth greeted his fans from his Poes Garden residence here on the occasion. According to a senior official with the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department, after a sudden halt in temple visits for two years due to Covid-19 imposed lockdown, devotees have started visiting the temples as they had done during the pre-pandemic times.

Anticipating huge crowds, the temple management made sufficient arrangements to ensure hassle-free darshan for the families who flocked to the shrines.

The presiding deity of the Andavar (Murugan) temple at Vadapalani here graced His devotees in three different alankarams (decoration) - gold, silver and flowers.

The Lord Venkateswara temple at the TTD Information Centre in T Nagar here conducted the Asthana puja on the occasion of Tamil New Year. A large number of devotees lined up at the TTD temple here and several other temples, as well, early in the morning for darshan. Special pujas and archana were held at all the temples throughout the state.

Meanwhile, in Puducherry Tamil New Year's day was celebrated with fervour and gaiety. People offered worship at the temples on the occasion and the temple managements held special poojas and abishegams to presiding deities.

Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister N Rangasamy, Speaker R Selvam, Ministers and leaders of different political parties greeted the people on the occasion.

Tamilisai Soundararajan held special programme at Rajnivas (residence of the Lt Governor) and distributed sweets to the staff and employees in her office.