Nallur festival, a religious inspiration for Hindus

Nallur Kovil chariot festival today:

Indramathy Ramachandra

The Nallur Kanthan Temple

July is one of the important, interesting and indispensable months not only for Hindus, but also for almost all the people in Jaffna. It can be called the month of spirituality. The Nallur Festival starts six days after the arrival of the new moon annually. The festival continues for 25 days. The Chariot Festival takes place on the 24th day. The festival begins in July and ends in August.

The fragrance of spirituality is smelt during the festive days in the Jaffna peninsula. A great change in the life of Jaffna people is observed. People in the surroundings of Nallur clean the houses and the compounds a week before the festival. The community at large keep their homes with the look of purity, decorating with special Kolam in the front. The nearby roads are also made clean, neat and tidy. The sheds are put up for pilgrims.

People all over Jaffna irrespective of caste, creed and community make arrangements for the festival expecting a change from despair to hope. The Nallur Kandasamy Kovil is a model temple that tells the people how a temple should be maintained and administered. The most notable feature of the Nallur festival is its punctuality. The festival takes place on time irrespective of any disturbance.

It also tells us which actions should be promoted and which not in a Hindu temple.

It serves a model Institution for reawakening the minds of the people. One example is the temple administrators charge only one rupee to perform archanai.

During the festival season, many Hindus fast, refrain from non-vegetarian diet and alcoholic drinks and stick to a code of conduct as expected from a Hindu. They are encouraged to take part in charitable activities like feeding the poor and the needy. Schoolchildren are made to participate in bhajans.

Hundreds of Hindus specially youngsters perform rigorous Kavadi dances and roll the temple streets as a kind of penance or thanks-giving for fulfilment of their cherished desires. Hundreds of people who were once not religious have become sober devotees refraining from all kinds of anti-social activities. To the community at large, the temple serves as an inspiration leading them to a life of virtue.

Temples far from Nallur undertake religious processions and reciting of devotional songs. Males perform Kavadi dances while the females carry burning camphor pots on their heads to fulfill their vows.

So many comforts are made for the convenience of the devotees. As they walk on the roads, the traffic is temporarily stopped when the Poojas are going on.

The municipality earns money by putting up temporary sheds for the business people. The traders take the opportunity of getting a lump profit during the 25 days of the temple festival.

Children are seen in ice cream cafes enjoying sweet meals after their prayers. Housewives are seen purchasing in utensils from palmyra product boutiques on their way home.

There are so many halls in the surroundings of the Nallur temple where continuous religious talks are delivered. People visit the temple to listen to the speeches, spend the time usefully and get maximum benefit from the spiritual preachings. The schoolchildren and the aesthetic scholars conduct their programs.

Religious contests are held for school students at different levels to improve their knowledge in Saivaism.