Chitra Poornima Girivalam

To view enlargements of below, right click on individual photographs. 

I was very eager to perform girivalam this month, as Chitra Poornima, the first full moon of the Tamil year is so very special. I set off at 5 p.m. and expected to complete the full round of the Hill by 9.30 p.m. 

Many devotees had arranged the feeding of pilgrims. And the first place I stopped at was a puja being conducted by a group from various spots in South India, on behalf of their Guru (who had attained samadhi). 

A member of the group told me that they had arranged enough provisions so that they could feed 70,000 pilgrims. The provisions included: 4,000 kg of rice, 500 kg of dhal and 1,000 litres of curd. This is the sixth year (during Chitra Poornima) that this group has arranged such a puja and feeding. 

A huge crowd was expected for this poornima, and huge it was. As so many pilgrims had arranged prasad all along the girivalam roadway, many of the roadside restaurants had little business throughout the 24 hour poornima. Though it seems like tea shops did a roaring business.

Roadside artists were in attendance. And there were beautiful coloured drawings throughout the edges of the roadway. 

 

 You could get your palm read and future foretold. 

Or just stop for a moment and enjoy a 

refreshing green coconut. 

Or even a cooling glass of sugarcane water. 

The little boy in the below photograph, is whispering his secrets and wishes into the ear of Nandi, the mount of the great Lord Shiva. By the time I reached the next statue of Nandi, I too was ready to do my own whispering! 

The mood of the pilgrims was happy, and the crowds seemed to be enjoying their girivalam enormously. Many of the pilgrims I spoke with, mentioned that it was their first time at Arunachala. 

In this respect the Arts College Car Park was filled with out-of-State cars, mostly from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

 

It started to get quite dark, and time for me to put away the camera, and continue on my walk. Which did in fact take the expected time and I arrived home almost on the dot of 9.30 p.m.