Sea of devotees witnesses culmination of Koovagam fest

Villupuram: The annual Koovagam Koothandavar temple concluded with the transgenders thali cutting ceremony on Wednesday . The 18 days festival which nearly witnessed its closing ceremony on its sixteenth day but was continued. The festival is based on the mythical story of Aravan and Mohini. According to the myth of before Mahabharatha’s war started, Aravan, the son of Arjuna, was chosen for human sacrifice so that the Pandavas could conquer the Kauravas in Kurukshetra war .However Aravan wished to get married before given as a human sacrifice . None of the pricesses would come forward to marry him as he would soon be dead. It is believed Lord Krishna took Mohini avatar married Aravan .The next day Mohini (lord Krishna) mourned the loss of Aravan by taking the life of a widowby removing her thali and breaking her bangles. The transgenders who consider themselves to be an incarnation of Mohini , gather at the Koovagam village to take part in the religious rituals . The transgenders and devotees who congregated this year got thalis tied on their wrists from the Koovagam Koothandavar temple priest earlier on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning a giant wooden idol of Aravan was taken out in procession , its head was severed after taking the procession to the temple pond re-enacting Aaravan sacrifice . Thousands of devotees including the transgender in order to mourn the death of their bride aravan , removed their thali and performed oppari song (eulogy) .