Ramar Utsavam penultimate day, Day 24. Arun goes for this. Nadaswaram team already performing as I enter at 730pm. As one enters, to the left of the Dhvajastambha on the prakara, an entire stage has been set up for them. The bell is also being sounded by the same dedicated gentleman Deepa di and I met the other day. Utsava murtis are in their chamber, behind the drawn curtain.
The unjal utsavam is to happen in the Vasanta Mandapam on the temple’s north east corner, and it is kept lit.
There’s a long queue for the Varadaraja shrine, but as I join and complete my darshan, it seems to be just a regular line, perhaps crowded simply because of the utsavam that is about to begin. I also notice the golden lizards in the ardhamandapa. The circumambulatory path around the garbhagriha is closed on the right. So one can walk past the garbhagriha to the left, but must exit from the opening at the back which faces the Narasimha shrine.
Rama comes out soon, and the procession is very festive. The music is slow and sublime, matched by Rama’s gracious swaying advance. He goes around the temple, pausing multiple times for significant durations, lost in the alai of the music. Upon reaching the ardhamandapa he takes some time behind curtains again as he is raised onto the dais and made comfortable upon the unjal. And once his beloved Anjaneya is brought to him, the curtains open and we discover Rama in all his reposed glory. A few moments of magic when the electricity goes off periodically, leaving the entire scene lit dimly by the few deepams – there can be no sight more intimately immersive.
Right across Rama, facing him from their dedicated stage, are the Nadaswaram team with their singer, presenting music up to 1am. By the time the priests go home it’s 230am!