Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 17 (ANI): Thousands of Hindu devotees thronged the famous Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram city of India's southern Kerala and offered special prayers by lighting more than one hundred thousand earthen lamps also known as "lakshadeepam" to mark the festival of harvest. Lakshadeepam literally translates as one lakh lamps. On this day, the entire temple is lit with oil lamps and in its glittering background Lord Vishnu, Lord Narasimha and Lord Krishna are taken out on Garudavahana in a grand procession. Sree Padmanabha temple, located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, is famous for the historic Murajapam festival observed once in 6 years. The last Lakshadeepam was celebrated in 2008. The ritual still continues as an immensely grand festival and visual magnitude attracting staggering numbers to the doors of this great Temple. This is a tradition that started in AD 1750. The 56- day- long Murajapam festival, that began on 19 November 2013 concluded on Makara Sankranthi day, according to the Malayalam calendar and included chanting of three vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda and Samaveda).This is for the welfare of the people and land.
