Thousands witness Arudra Darshan at Chidambaram temple

Cuddalore district police had made elaborate security arrangements by deploying over 1,000 police personnel to regulate the crowd and the district administration had declared a holiday for the festival

A large number of devotees thronged Sri Natarajar temple in Chidambaram on Friday on the occasion of ‘Arudra Darshan’, as the 10-day event drew to a close.

People from the neighbouring districts and across the State visited the historic temple and offered worship, after getting a glimpse of the presiding deity during the annual event.

Amid chanting of hymns, Lord Natarajar in a cosmic dance pose and Goddess Sivagamasundari were taken out in a procession on a palanquin at 4.30 p.m. from the thousand-pillar mandapam to the sanctum sanctorum where special pujas were performed.

This is one of the two important annual 10-day festivals when Lord Natarajar is taken out in a procession through the four car streets in the temple town, the other being ‘Aani Thirumanjanam’.

The Cuddalore district police had thrown a huge security cordon deploying more than 1,000 police personnel to regulate the crowd. The district administration had declared a local holiday on Friday on account of the festival.