We went bright and early to Angalamman, and found the priests doing rounds with 2 boys, washing all the deities with water, getting them new clothes, flowers etc. Older priest doing the moola murti. Purappadu finally happened at 7:30am after circling the prakaram and a deeparadhanai outside, all supplies tucked into a bucket at the back of the vandi.
On the eve of August 15, there were major marching drills happening at the Gandhi statue. All the deities assembled at the far corner, closer to tennis ground. Angalamman from town was already there. The rest of the list Arun compiled:
- Nandhikeswara
- Gangai Vinayaka
- Lawspet Subramaniaswamy
- Saram Subramaniaswamy
- Angalamman
- Angalamman town
- Shakti Vinayaka Subramaniaswamy
- Perumal
- Sivan
- Sundara vinayaka
- Varasiddhi Vinayaka
- Mettupalayam Mutthumariamman
- Sri Ulagamutthumariamman
- Thandamutthumariamman
- Mutthalamman
- Chetty – was supposed to come, according to Govindarajan who came with the Lawspet priests instead – but they hadn’t arrived by the time we left, close to 10am.
The process was the same as for a koyil abhishekam, including kalasa preparation, initial pujas, recitation during the pouring of substances etc. Each temple did this to their means, some of the amman koyils seemed to include kunkumam as the ground was red but I didn’t see this for myself. After this, the nadaswaram players accompanied the astra murtis being carried by priests to the water – the point is to immerse, but the waves are very rough, and though there were lifeguards present, I don’t think anyone went that deeply into the water. Some older priests with less of a retinue just went, washed, came.
Vedapuriswara and Perumal were the stars of the show. They arrived together, stood side by side, went down to the water together, and posed for photos after together. Wow. Very, very wholesome moment with the two coming together - a sense of all the worlds coming into harmony.
Angala Parameswari had her usual Unjal Utsavam in the evening and new moon ceremony. Not sure what new moon ceremony there was, but the unjal utsavam was a little more dressed up than usual. Pandal with white hanging feathery things. Crowd was more, for sure. Nadaswaram here always plays popular filmy songs, nothing very classical at all