Thousands Gather at Mylapore Temple Tank and Across TN for Aadi Ammavasai

Thousands of devotees gathered across Tamil Nadu on Wednesday to perform traditional ancestral rites for Aadi Ammavasai, with large crowds converging at the Kapaleeswarar Temple tank in Mylapore and along Marina Beach in Chennai starting from the early hours of the morning.

The rituals, known as pitru tharpanam, are performed on the new moon day to honor departed ancestors. As part of the customs, devotees offered sesame and rice balls, known as pinda tharpanam, before taking holy dips in water bodies and seas across the state.

Astrologers clarified that a solar eclipse occurring late Wednesday night Indian Standard Time was not visible in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, and therefore posed no ritual restrictions for local observers. According to customs, Ammavasai days falling in the Tamil months of Aadi, Thai, and Purattasi are considered sacred for ancestral rituals, with the month of Aadi currently underway.

Major holy sites outside Chennai also saw massive turnouts. At Agni Theertham beach in Rameswaram, thousands of pilgrims arrived at dawn from various districts of Tamil Nadu as well as neighboring Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. After offering prayers at the beach, devotees bathed in the 22 sacred Theerthams inside the Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple. To manage the crowds, over 500 police personnel were deployed, while coastal security police conducted intensive offshore patrols to prevent accidents.

In Kanyakumari, devotees, including many from Kerala, assembled at the Triveni Sangamam confluence as early as 4 a.m., with heavy footfall continuing past mid-morning under police crowd management arrangements.

In Tirunelveli district, thousands gathered along the banks of the Thamirabarani river from dawn. Key locations included the steps of the Kurukkuthurai Subramaniya Swamy Temple, the Esakki Amman Temple steps, and the holy ghats in front of the Papanasanathar Temple in Papanasam. To maintain order, police implemented one-way traffic systems, while local civic bodies and volunteers collected plastic bags from devotees and replaced them with eco-friendly paper bags.