Chariot festival culminates at Kalpathy; foreigners arrive for the finale

The rolling of heavily decorated majestic temple chariots through the village streets of Kalpathy is the major attraction of the car festival, known as 'rathotsavam' in local parlance. Sree Viswanathaswamy temple is the main centre of the festival while the three satellite temples in the village of new Kalpathy, old Kalpathy and Chathapuram also take part in it.

Palakkad:Kerala's famous Kalpathy chariot festival ended on Saturday. The rolling of heavily decorated majestic temple chariots through the village streets of Kalpathy is the major attraction of the car festival, known as 'rathotsavam' in local parlance.

The festival attracts thousands of devotees at this time of the year. The festival is traditionally associated with the 98 'agraharams' in the region.

Located on the banks of the river Nila (also known as Kalpathy river), Kalpathy is an early settlement of the Tamil Brahmin community in the southern state. A massive cleaning drive was launched before the commencement of the festival.

Adequate streets lights were installed on the village streets and roads, through which the temple chariots move, were repaired.

The rolling of heavily decorated majestic temple chariots through the village streets of Kalpathy is the major attraction of the car festival, known as 'rathotsavam' in local parlance.

Sree Viswanathaswamy temple is the main centre of the festival while the three satellite temples in the village of new Kalpathy, old Kalpathy and Chathapuram also take part in it.

The highlights of the festival included huge, intricately carved temple chariots carting through the streets by thousands of devotees.

Read: Lakhs pull chariots on 'Ulto Rath Yatra' in Bengal