It was a ceremonial start to the Vallasadya season at Sree Parthasarathy Temple on the banks of the Pampa at Aranmula on Friday.
Hundreds of devotees thronged Aranmula to witness the ceremony and partake of the ritualistic feast, Vallasadya, offered to the crew of Palliyodams (snakeboats). It was formally inaugurated by Nair Service Society president and former district judge P.N. Narendranathan Nair.
Suresh Gopi, Rajya Sabha member; Prayar Gopalakrishnan, Travancore Devaswom Board president; Annapooorna Devi, district panchayat president; S.Harikishore, District Collector; K.G. Sasidharan Pillai, Palliyoda Seva Sanghom (PSS) president; and P.R. Radhakrishnan, secretary, were among those who attended the ceremony.
Vallasadya is offered by the devotees of Lord Parthasarathy to the crew of Palliyodams, treating them as representatives of the presiding deity.
A feast was organised on the temple premises by a committee comprising the PSS president, secretary, Devaswom assistant commissioner, administrative officer, and two representatives of devotees.
Crew of the seven Palliyodams of Laka Edayaranmula, Keekkozhoor, Thekkemuri, Maramon, Keezhcherimel, Punnamthottom, and Cherukol partook of the feast on the first day.
The boat crew reached the temple precincts in a customary procession. The devotees who offered the Vallasadya accorded a traditional reception to the snakeboat crew at the temple ghats in the forenoon.
The NSS president served the feast with as many as 64 items on a plantain leaf kept before a ceremonial lamp amid loud chants of Krishna bhajans and Vanchippattu.
The snakeboat crew, along with the other devotees, were served the feast at the Oottupura (dining hall) and other temporary pandals erected on the temple precincts. The two-month Vallasadya season will conclude on October 2.
