Kalpathi Ratholsavam ( Temple Car Festival )

Kalpathi Ratholsavam 2016 : November 13 (Sunday) to November 15 (Tuesday)

Decorated Chariot drawn through the kalpathi agrahara veethi

Kalpathy Ratholsavam is a ten day long festival, known for its unique rituals. Situated in Palakkad district and nestled by the banks of Kalpathy River, the Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswwanatha Swamy temple, is considered to be one among the oldest Siva temples in Kerala. The main ceremony of the festival is the religious procession of decorated temple chariots through the streets of Kalpathy amidst Vedic chants. The origin of this ritual dates back to antiquity.According to the Legends the Festival is about 700 years old. The temple of Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanatha Swamy dates back to 1425 A.D. The similarities to the famous Varanasi Kashi Vishwanath temple on the banks of the Ganges in North India gives this temple the moniker: "kasiyil pakuthi kalpathy"—Kalpathy is half Kashi.  Kalpathi   village or agraharam in which the temple is situated ,is an early Tamil Brahmin settlement.

Intricately carved chariot

The annual ten-day chariot festival conducted here during the month of November is one of the most remarkable festivals of Kerala. Vedic recitals and cultural programmes are held in the temple during the first four days of the festival. On the last three days, thousands of devotees gather together to draw decorated temple chariots through the streets.The procession is next in grandeur to the famous car festival of Puri Jagannatha Swamy Temple in Orissa.

The main deities of this ancient temple, situated by the side of Kalpathy River, are Lord Siva and his consort Visalakshi, which is another name for Goddess Parvati. As part of the festival, deities are taken out from the temple and are placed in chariots that have been beautifully decorated.While the first chariot is meant jointly for the main deities, Lord Vishwanatha and Goddess Visalakshi, the second is meant for Lord Vigneswara and third chariot is for Lord Subramanya. The sight of these intricately carved chariots decorated with flags and flowers making their way through the street, as soul stirring chants fill the air, is worth watching.Rest three chariots are from the nearby temples of Manthakkara Maha Ganapathy, Lakshminarayana Perumal of Old Kalpathy, and Maha Ganapathy of Chathapuram. 

Devarathasangamom

Beautifully decorated with flowers, flags, sugarcane, coconuts etc, the cars are ceremoniously drawn through the streets by thousands of devotees.This is known as ‘Devarathasamgamam‘.The procession is accompanied by caparisoned elephants and percussion. It is believed that pulling the chariots will wash off all the sins for a lot of generations.

An elephant giving a helping hand to push the chariot

The traditional streets of this age old Tamil Brahmin settlement come alive with devotion and joyous celebration all throughout the ten days of this festival. The first four days of the festival are marked by definite Vedic rituals. Later, the deities are all taken out for the pompous procession.The most important days of the festival are the last three days when chariots from the satellite temples, adjoining the Kalpathy Sree Viswanatha temple,new Kalpathy, old Kalpathy and Chathapuram  also blend with the main procession.

On the concluding day,the chariots will return to the temples at night. After ‘abhisekam,’ the deities will be redecorated and taken out in procession in floral palanquins at midnight. The palanquins will return to the temple at dawn on the first day of the Tamil month of Karthigai, coinciding with the Kadamukham festival in Mayiladuthurai.

The Kalpathy Carnatic Music and Car Festival, organised from November 7 to 15 every year, is centred around the Sree Viswanathaswamy Temple (Kundampalam) situated on the banks of Nila (Kalpathy river). The festival is of international renown and boasts a great tradition. The festival with its unique temple chariot processions and carnatic music concerts by maestros attract people from different parts of the country making it a national festival. Many foreigners also visit Kalpathy every year to take part in the colourful celebrations.

The main attraction of Kalpathy car festival, is the colourful long line of stalls ,locally referred to as the "Ther kadai or Theru kada". Both young and old wait alike for the "Ther kadais" to come alive for a joyous festival shopping. Children will be looking for new type of toys, girls may want fashionable ornaments and homemakers may be on the lookout for household goods, utensils, etc. Though the festival will draw to a close on Thursday, hundreds of shops set up at Kalpathy will continue to do business for a month. In these days, traders and merchants dealing in household utensils such as ‘kalchattis(stone wares),Man chattis(earthen wares) piece goods, and other consumer items frequent the festival.

The festival, which is conventionally observed during the last week of Aippasi month, is initiated with Dwajarohanam (flag hoisting) and ends with ceremonial Deva Rathasangamom. The temple also hosts many cultural programs as part of the festival. The chariots are decked up in such a way that they glorify the deities that are placed in them.

Watch videos of the famous Kalpathi Car Festival here:

http://www.festivalsofindia.in/kalpathi_ratholsavam/