MANGANI FESTIVAL

It is a four-day temple festival, celebrated in the Tamil month of Adi since 1929, culminates in mango-strewn streets in Karaikal. People gather from district to district to attend and witness this unique celebration of Saint Karaikal Ammaiyar. Due to the global pandemic Covid-19, the 91-year-old tradition has to take a break. The Mangani festival at Karaikal's, the oldest Hindu temple, an enclave of Puducherry, is surrounded by an interesting legend. It is the temple of Lord Somanathar and his spouse Somanayaki. It is adjacent to the shrine and wedding dais of Punithavathi, who later became Saint Karaikal Ammaiyar. The name of her temple makes her one of the few saints of the 5th century to have one. The story behind the great poet Seikhizar in his monumental work "Periyapuranam", a portrait in the gallery of 63 canonised Saivite saints tells the story of these saints in 66 quatrains, begins with the story of Punithavathi, a devout woman married to Paramadattan. One day, Paramadattan sent two mangoes to his wife through a worker from his working place and asked her to keep them for lunch. An hour later, a devotee of Lord Shiva came yasagam for some food, as the food wasn't ready, Punithavathi had to offer him a mango. When her Paramadattan returned, Punithavathi served him the other ripped mango. It was so delicious that he asked for another one too. Punithavathi starts to pray, and suddenly a ripe mango fell into her palm. Finding the fruit tasty and juicy, he asked her where she got it from. When she confessed her prayers, Paramadattan looked unconvinced and asked her to procure another such fruit. She prayed again and received one more fruit, but it got vanished when her husband tried to touch it. Paramadattan realised that it was an act of intervention. He got scared and left her. Later, when some relatives of Punithavathi discovered the injustice done by her husband, they confronted him. In his explanation, Paramadattan asked Punithavathi's relatives to worship her. But Punithavathi could not find her peace. She began to pray for a fleshless skeletal body & a way to serve Lord Shiva. Her request was heard, and since then, people began offering her respect, and she became Karaikal Ammaiyar. This festival marks the salvation attained by Punithavathi through the medium of a ripe mango. On this day, Lord Shiva's idol is dressed as a mendicant and taken out in a ritual. On this day, the natives of Karaikal welcome their guests on a delicious dinner with vadai and payasam. They honour the idol with a garland of vetti veir, two ripped mangoes, betel leaves and nuts, and a silken cloth. Punithavathi's abandonment of her beauty after her husband worshipped her divinity and her ensuing transformation into an emaciated form is commemorated remarkable. This festival is marked by dance, music, drama and public speeches to a finale along with the fireworks displays in the end.