NAGERCOIL: Thousands of devotees on Sunday witnessed the 'Kodiyettu' (flag hoisting ceremony) at the famed Mandaikadu Bhagavathy Amman temple near here, marking the commencement of the 10-day 'Koda' festival in this coastal town in Kanniyakumari district.
Temple tantri Edakkode Sankaranarayana Iyer initiated the festival rituals in the morning, amid the chanting of ''Amme Saranam, Devi Saranam''.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, former Kerala minister V S Sivakumar, Member of Parliament Vijay Vasanth, MLA J G Prince, District Collector P N Sridhar and District police chief E Sundaravathanam were present on the occasion.
The legendary Koda festival will take place on March 12 which will be attended by lakhs of devotees from the various regions of Tamil Nadu and the southern parts of Kerala.
'Valiyapadukka', a major midnight ritual of the festival, will be performed on March 8 and the procession of 'Valiya Theevatti' on March 11, before the festival concludes with the 'Odukku Pooja' at midnight, will be held on March 12.
There has been a steady flow of pilgrims, mostly women, to the temple in the past one month, setting the tempo for the annual festival.
Special inter-state bus services are being operated between Thiruvananthapuram and Mandaikadu by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation.
The Tamil Nadu police has deployed more than 1,000 personnel and a contingent of Marine Police for security and crowd management. Several watchtowers have been installed around the temple, including the coastal stretches close to the shrine.
The Mandaikadu Devi temple is situated on the Arabian Sea coast near Colachel in Tamil Nadu, which was part of the erstwhile Travancore princely state.