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Avani Avittam, an important Hindu religious observance, was marked across Tiruchirappalli on Thursday with traditional rituals, prayers and the changing of sacred threads.
The festival is observed on the full moon day in the Tamil month of Avani. On the day of the Avittam star, people who have traditionally undergone Upanayanam and Gayatri Upadesam, including members of Brahmin, Viswakarma and Chettiar communities, take part in the ritual. As part of the ceremony, devotees remove their old sacred threads and wear new ones. The ritual is traditionally performed near rivers or other water bodies. In Tiruchirappalli, members of different Hindu communities gathered at the Cauvery riverbank, a private marriage hall in Srirangam and gurukuls for the ceremony. They performed tarpanam for the Devas and Rishis, offered prayers and chanted Gayatri mantras. According to tradition, unmarried men wear one sacred thread, while married men wear two. Married men whose fathers have passed away wear three sacred threads. The day is also considered important for the study of the Vedas. Many devotees visited teachers and scholars to begin or continue learning Vedic recitations and scriptures. On this day, devotees perform Rishi Tharpanam to honour the ancient sages and express their gratitude for the Vedic knowledge they passed down through generations. The ritual of chanting mantras and replacing the old sacred thread with a new one is traditionally believed to bring strength and dignity to Brahmins. Devotees also recite the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred hymn dedicated to Savitr, the Sun deity mentioned in the Rig Veda. Chanting it 1,008 times is believed to cleanse one of accumulated sins and bring purity and peace to the mind. (ANI)
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