Avani Moolam is a temple festival held at
the Meenakshi-Sundereswarar Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It is a 10-day
festival dedicated to Divine Acts performed by Lord Shiva to help his
devotees. This festival occurs in the month of Avani (August-September) in the
Tamil Calendar.
The festival portrays individual Leelas of
Lord Shiva on each day. On each day, one incident is depicted and the temple
idols are taken out in different Vahanas in procession through the streets
surrounding the temple.
The highlight events of the Moolam Festival
are two incidents. One incident is when Lord Shiva sent fine horses to the King
of Madurai as promised by His devotee Manikkavachagar. The other incident and
the main event is the Pittukku Man Sumandha Kadahi. In this event, the Lord
came in the disguise of a young boy to help out an old woman. There was a flood
in the Vaigai River, and to control the huge flood, the king had ordered each
individual in the city to carry a basketful of mud to block the breach in the
banks of the River to close it.
One old woman, who
used to sell the rice delicacy ‘Puttu’ for a living was unable to help out with
closing the breach. She prayed to Lord Shiva who came to her in the form of a
young boy and told her he would carry basketfuls of mud to the breach for her
in return for some of her Puttu.
This legend is
reenacted during the festival and forms the highlight of the 10-day festival.
In 2015 it is
celebrated from August 18th to 29th August.
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