GEORGE TOWN: Hundreds of devotees attended the chariot procession of the Goddess Sri Maha Mariamman at the Arulmigu Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Queen Street, which marked the end of the nine-day Navarathiri festival.
The 10th or final day of the festival is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or Dussehra.
Temple chairman R. Arasu said since the procession took place on a weekend, it drew a larger crowd compared to previous years.
The 10km procession started from the temple in Queen Street at 7.30pm and passed through several roads before ending at the temple at 2am on Sunday (Oct 13).
The highlight of the festival is the Vadham (arrow shooting) ceremony where the Goddess defeats the evil Mahishasura (a buffalo-head demon) and brings relief to the people.
During this ceremony which took place at the Esplanade, the Goddess 'shoots' several arrows at the demon while on the chariot, symbolising the victory of good over evil.
This year the Navarathiri festival started on Oct 3. During the festival, Hindus worship three goddesses over nine days.
They are Durga (goddess of bravery), Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and Saraswathi (goddess of knowledge).
Arasu said that some 50 devotees carried milkpots in the morning {{}} from the Muniswarar Temple in Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah to the temple in Queen Street to mark the last day of the festival.
"There were also several other prayer ceremonies held and tomorrow we will have the 'poochudi vila' (flower blessing) ceremony followed by the 'pon unjal' (swing) event on Monday when the Goddess is placed on a swing and devotional 'lullabies' are sung to her.
"These ceremonies are held to 'calm' the Goddess after the battle and to make her happy again," he explained.
The statue of goddess sri maha mariamman was lifted on to the chariot for the start of the chariot procession from the queen street temple to mark the end of the navarathiri festival.
The chariot was pulled by a motorised vehicle passing by several roads.
Devotees offering prayers as the statue of goddess maha mariamman was brought out and lifted on to the chariot just before the start of the procesison.
The brightly lit chariot with the goddess maha mariamman ready to leave the temple in queen street for the procession through several streets in penang to mark the end of the nine-day navarathiri festival.
