Karthigai Deepam is the oldest festival
of South India, which is also the most elaborate and the most
important festival. Karthigai Deepam falls in the Tamil month
of Karthigai when the star Krithigai is on the ascendant and usually
occurs on a full moon day. This festival is also called as "the
Festival of Lights".
The popular legend behind
the celebrations goes like this- Once upon a time the Devas, the
heavenly immortals, put in their best possible efforts to have
a complete Darshan of Lord Shiva. During this process Lord Brahma
took the form of a swan and Lord Vishnu in the form of a boar
conducted an extensive search in the sky and in the neither world
did they find him.
Lord Shiva asked Lord Brahma
and Lord Vishnu to find out the exact location of his head and
his feet. Since Lord Shiva took a gigantic form, they were not
able to find him anywhere. Then Lord Shiva appeared before them
in the form of a flaming light whose ends cannot be defined on
the hill of Thiruvannamalai. Therefore, this festival is also
known as Annamalai Deepam. Here, a special torch is lighted on
the zenith of the hill and it is believed that Lord Shiva's Jyoti
will be visible on this day. The festival is celebrated in a special
manner in Thiruvannamalai.
Lord Muruga took the form
of six babies in a lake called "Saravana Poigai". On
this day, Parvati (his mother) united all his six forms and so
Lord Muruga has six faces. Special pujas are performed to Lord Mu
Speciality Of The
Month:
The month of Karthigai
is of special importance to Tamil people, which derives its name
from the star 'Krithigai'. Lord Shiva, with His divine light,
created Lord Muruga, in this month.
Deepavali Celebration:
This festival is
considered as the extension of the Deepavali festival. In some
houses, they double the number of lamps every day from the day
of Deepavali and this way, they end up with a number of lamps
on the day of Karthigai Deepam.
On this day, people clean
their houses and draw 'Kolams' (Rangoli) in front of the house
and also place some lamps on it. They place the lamps ('Agal')
in the puja room and light them and after the 'Deeparathana' (puja)
the lamps are moved to the different places in the house. The
lamps glow all over the streets on this day.
Celebrations At Tiruvannamalai:
Karthigai Deepam is the
most important festival, when devotees walk round the hill and
worship the Bharani Deepam, which is lit early in the morning
on the final day of the festival, in the sanctum sanatorium. The
Deepam is lit in a gigantic, circular metal vessel that can hold
about 2,000 litres of ghee. It is five and half feet in height
and five feet in diameter. For making the wick, 30m of 'Ghada'
cloth is used and is burnt with 2 kilos of camphor on the night
of 'Karthigai Pournami'. The Jyoti can be sighted from nearly
35-km around.
The lighting of the beacon
on the top of the hill is the culmination of ten days of hectic
activity in the temple town. The lighting of the Maha Deepam will
take place simultaneously with "Deeparadhanam" to the
five deities in the temple at the foot of the hill.
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