GURUVAYUR TEMPLE ANNUAL FESTIVAL-2013

The annual festival of Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple will begin on Saturday23rd, February,2013. An elephant race (Anayottam) will be held at 3 p.m. the same day Nedumudi Venu, actor, will inaugurate cultural programmes to be held as part of the festival.The festival is estimated to cost Rs.1.32 crore, Guruvayur Devaswom chairman T.V. Chandramohan said. Cultural programmes would cost Rs.92 lakh, serving food (Prasada Ottu) Rs.92 lakh, and traditional ensembles Rs.8 lakh. Palivetta would be performed on Ma rch 3. The festival would conclude with Arat on March 4.The 10-day annual festival of the famous Sree Krishna temple here began on Monday with the traditional elephant race in which tusker Kannan emerged as the winner. As many as five elephants were lined up for the race which covered a distance of about half-a-kilometre from the 'Manjulal' to the shrine. 

The ritual commemorates the temple lore that once in the past, when the temple did not have any elephant at its disposal, a tusker came running to the shrine on its own to bear the idol of the presiding deity Lord Guruvayurappan during the festival days. Guruvayur temple now has some 60 elephants in its possession, kept at the sprawling Punnathur Kotta park in the temple town. The flag signalling the start of the festival was hoisted in the evening. The 'Kalasam' rituals ahead of the festival were completed yesterday. Besides special poojas, performance of temple and classical arts like music concerts, ensemble of percussion instruments and horns, devotional musical concerts and Kathakali would be performed during the 10 days, attracting devotees in a big way. 

Prof. John Kurakar