The Thear (Chariot) festival of the historic Nalloor Kanthasuvaami Temple in Jaffna town was held Tuesday morning with at least a hundred thousand devotees from all over the island and abroad participating in the annual festival. The opening of A9 road had enabled the devotees to travel easily to Jaffna. Tamils and Sinhala people from South and expatriate Tamils in particular were among the thousands of devotees, sources in Jaffna said.
More than 600 civil police personnel along with the temple volunteers were engaged in maintaining order during the festival.
Key roads in Jaffna were blocked for vehicles while no one was allowed to enter the temple surroundings in vehicles.
The chief deity Lord Murukan was taken from the temple Tuesday morning to the gaily-decorated Thear, with several devotees following the Thear paying their homage.
Devotees annually flock to the temple to fulfil the vows, imposing on themselves peculiar forms of penance including Kaavadi to propitiate Lord Murukan.
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