[1]More than five lakh people witnessed the poompaavai ritual of the ten-day Arupathu Moovar annual festival held in grand manner at Mylapore on Wednesday.
The eighth day of the festival on Wednesday is special as the sixty-three nayanmars are taken out on a procession on this day.
Poompavai ritual marks the event where Thirugnana sampandhar – one of the sixty-three nayanmars – brought to life a young daughter of his friend killed by snakebite.
The ritual was observed in the morning where a statue of Thirugnana sampandhar was brought to the Mylapore tank along followed by statues of his friend Sivanesa Chettiyar and daughter Poompavai. They were later taken to the temple.
In evening, huge crowds had turned out to witness the procession. Several devotees had arranged for anna dhanam (free meals), water, buttermilk, cool drinks and other items to be served to the devotees who came from various parts of the city to witness the procession.
The police had also arranged for heavy protection on the streets through which the procession passed to enable the devotees have a free darshan of the procession.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/563-festivaljpgcropdisplayjpg-243