Vaniyambadi temple festivals and rituals, from 1233 to today

In short. Vaniyambadi's oldest recorded festival is a festival in Tai, endowed in 1233 for Virundindevar, the god of the Athitheeswarar temple. That temple now keeps Chithirai Brahmotsavam, Maha Shivaratri and Margazhi Thiruvadhirai. In 1883 the town celebrated Ponniamman in August, and today Vinayaka Chaturthi idols go into the Palar.

Vaniyambadi, the main page · History, century by century · The temples · What the name means · வாணியம்பாடி வரலாறு, தமிழில்

This page is about the Hindu temple festivals and rituals of the town. Every line has a source, and where we found none, we say so.

A festival in Tai, endowed in 1233

The walls of the Athitheeswarar temple in Old Vaniyambadi carry six Chola and Hoysala inscriptions. In them the god of the temple is called Virundindevar.

Inscription No. 182 is dated in the 18th year of Rajaraja III, Saka 1155, which is 1233 CE. It calls the town Vaniganpadi alias Madhurantaka-chaturvedimangalam, and it endows "a festival in the month of Tai" for Virundindevar (Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1963–64).

The inscription records the endowment. It does not describe how the festival was held, so we do not either.

Another record in the same temple, No. 185 of 1221, gave ten cows and a bull to keep the temple lamps burning.

The Athitheeswarar temple year today

The Dinamalar temple guide and temple writers list three festivals at the Athitheeswarar temple today.

Festival	When
Chithirai Brahmotsavam	Chithirai month, April to May
Maha Shivaratri	Once a year (the source gives no date)
Thiruvadhirai	Margazhi month

The temple has a shrine to Saraswati in its outer corridor, tied to the story of the town's name. Saraswati Puja at this temple is reported only on Wikipedia, in the temple's infobox. We found no second source for it.

Read the story of Saraswati and the name on what the name means.

Ponniamman: an August festival recorded in 1883

The Manual of the Salem District (1883, p. 318) records that the Ponniamman festival was celebrated at Vaniyambadi in August.

The same book (p. 321) lists the endowments of the town's temples. Among them is one for a "Ponniammal Jathirai" at Amburpettai, one of the town's pettais. The Manual gives the endowment, not the details of the festival.

The municipality lists a Ponni Amman temple in Periyapettai among the town's places of interest.

Pongal and the Saturday market in 1883

The same page of the Salem Manual (p. 318) says Pongal was kept in every village in January. It also records a weekly market at Vaniyambadi on Saturdays, where cattle were sold too.

Vinayaka Chaturthi and the Palar

A district notice from about 2014, when Vaniyambadi was in Vellore district, lists the Palar as the approved place to immerse Vinayaka Chaturthi idols for Vaniyambadi (Hindupad). The town is now in Tirupathur district, so check the current year's notice.

What we could not confirm

We found no source for a temple car (ther) festival, an Aadi festival, a Karthigai observance or a Palar river festival specific to Vaniyambadi. We have left them out rather than guess. If you know of one and have a source, write to 2boysfromtown@gmail.com and we will add it with credit.

Sources

• Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1963–64, nos. 182 and 185
• F. J. Le Fanu, Manual of the Salem District, Vol. II (1883), pp. 318 and 321
• Dinamalar temple guide: Athitheeswarar temple
• Hindupad: Vinayaka Chaturthi idol immersion places, Vellore district
• Vaniyambadi Municipality: places of interest