PALANI, INDIA, January 28, 2008: Even as the 10-day Thai Pusam festival was officially over, it would actually come to an end only after the visit of thousands of pilgrims from Edapadi and nearby villages to Palani hill.
Over ten thousand pilgrims reached the Dhandayuthapaniswamy temple on Sunday afternoon to stay on the hill overnight, a rare and special privilege offered to them during festival days. A large procession that took out from Edapadi reached the hill temple around 2pm.
They were divided into three groups, each carrying peacock, paneer and tender coconut kavadis. Percussion instrumentalists, elephants and artists carrying holy umbrellas accompanied them. People who brought kavadis would return home on foot, according to pilgrims.
The pilgrims used two hundred thousand, two tonnes of dates, seven hundred pounds of rock candy and 150 liters of honey and enourmous amounts of cardamom powder and ghee. Fifteen tonnes of panchamritham were prepared for abishekam.