According to officials, 10 lakh devotees came to Kumbakonam for Mahamaham on Monday
Lakhs of devotees celebrated Mahamaham, the grand finale of the 10-day festival which is celebrated once in 12 years, in Tamil Nadu's Kumbakonam on Monday.
Popularly called the Kumbh Mela of South, waters in this tank is believed to have come from all holy rivers. A dip here, devotees believe, is as good as a dip in all of them. According to the district administration, an estimated ten lakh people had come on Monday alone and a total of 40 lakh over the last 10 days.
Bala Subramaniam and his family came all the way from Chennai. This is the second consecutive Mahamaham he participated in. "This will help us to go on the right path and to remove unwanted elements," he said.
Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter and the star of the day align on a single line on this day and it happens once in 12 years.
A Bharathi, another devotee from Chennai, said, "I'm so thrilled to be here. It's so auspicious."
"It's auspicious and it also cleans all my sins," said Rama Moorthy, a devotee from Bengaluru.
Amidst a terror threat, 25000 security personnel ensured the festival was peaceful. Several hundred of them dotted the tank to guide devotees. 400 CCTV cameras and a state of the art control room monitored the entire town.
A senior police officer said, "We used latest technology and I'm glad our team's hard work paid off."
2000 sanitary workers cleaned the tank and the area around the clock to avert the spreading of any disease. Also in place were a fleet of ambulances and first responder bikes.
In 1992, 40 people died in a stampede here while Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her friend Sasikala took the holy dip.