People celebrate Margazhi Ashtami Chariot Festival at Meenakshi Amman temple

MADURAI: Large number of people flocked to the street in Madurai to take part in the Margazhi Ashtami Chariot Festival celebrated at Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai on Thursday. Devotees celebrated the grand event with the blowing of conches and the banging of drums. Policemen, in large numbers, were deployed to control the crowd. The entire city echoed with the cheers of lord Meenakshi Amman.

The festival is celebrated in the month of Margasheersha, known as Margazhi in Tamil. As per the Hindu tradition, the month of Markasheersha is considered auspicious for one's spiritual development which can be attained through dedication to Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu and others by meditation and fasting.

Idols of lord Meenakshi Amman and Sundareswarar will stroll through the outer streets in a chariot. Women will pull the chariot which is the major highlight of the festival.

Lord Krishna mentioned the importance of Margazhi month in the Bhagavad Gita. As per the tradition, religious sermons, chanting, listening to spiritual music etc. should be done in this month. At the same time, no religious events like weddings are performed in this month. People do not engage in any activities other than worshipping God. Several significant Hindu festivals take place throughout the state during this time, and devotees commemorate them with devotion.

Every December the state celebrates classical music and dance forms with renowned musicians and artists gathering to play in various temples, sabhas or auditoriums.

Margazhi Maha Utsavam - Music and Dance Festival in Chennai Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music along with devotional music rhymes confers mystical divinity to the land of Tamil Nadu.

The cultural extravaganza is held in several auditoriums and sabhas as the "Music and Dance Festival," which features the performances of vocal and instrumental musicians alluring all the classical music and dance fanatics to participate.

The festival provides a chance for junior performers to demonstrate their abilities while sharing the stage with their older peers in the profession. The performances revolve mostly around Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit and Kannada songs, showing the enchantment of instruments such as the flute, veena, gottuvadyam, nadhaswaram, thavil, mridangam, and ghatam.