Folk art forms a big draw at Nanganallur Narasimhar temple car festival

The 10-day Bramhotsavam is an annual fixture  of the temple and the car festival draws a large number of devotees from all over the city. During the annual celebrations, the presiding deity is  taken out in a procession on different mounts (Vahanams) in areas around the temple. Some interesting activities of the 10-day event are the Yesal (the Lord is brought mounted on an elephant and proceeds in the same style as a jumbo walks) and the Vedu Pari which is an  enactment of the Lord defeating highway robbers. This year, the most impressive show was of the Lord  brought on a Yaali (a mythical creature found in many temples) mount. The day’s event was sponsored by V Bharani Prasad, one of the trustees of the Sri Krishna Bhakta Jana Sabha that runs the temple and an AIADMK functionary. “I wanted to add a unique feature to the Bramhotsavam and to mark the birthday of Chief Minister  Jayalalithaa. So, the first thing that came to  my mind was the Yaali mount. Then, the 

folk art forms also struck me.  The two immediate forms that impressed me were Thappu and the Ramayana skit.” “I shared my idea with 83year old Raghavan the senior most trustee of the temple. 

He also was amenable to the and that’s how the two art forms found their way to the Bramhotsavam celebrations,” explained Bharani Prasad, who spent around Rs 3 lakh for the celebrations on Feb 24 . In fact, two Thappu bands were performing during the car festival. While the first one was the Murthy band from Kancheepuram, the other was a group of students from Srimad Andavan College in Tiruchy. “We were really surprised when the Nanganallur temple authorities approached us. This is the first time we are playing in  a big temple festival like this. It is a big recognition for us and we hope that the Bramhotsavam show will open new avenues for us,” said  a beaming  Murthy, head of the band. Sudha, a local resident said, “including folk art forms like Thappu in temple festivals is a good sign. Having them on such occasions can give public exposure to some dying art forms.” The players of Ramayana skit were only keen on blessing the devotees  who approached  them and did not converse  much. However, their songs and musical dialogues went well with the devotees, as it looked like pre-talkies days. All said, it was a wonderful and unique experience for the devotees of Nanganallur this year.