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City lights up for Karthigai Deepam

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The next two days will be full of lights and festivities as south Indians across the city celebrate the Karthigai Deepam festival. It is a three-day festival which began on Thursday, with the most auspicious day being today (Friday), when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Karthigai and Purnima. On this day, women pray for their brothers' well being. It is believed that this festival has been celebrated since even before Diwali and Navaratri in the Sangam age of 200 BC to 300 AD.

The first day of the festival is called Bharini Deepam, the next is Karthigai Deepam, and the last one is Sarvalay Deepam. Women wear new silk sarees and wear flowers in their hair. Lanterns and lamps are lit outside as well as inside the house along with rangolis. They make special dishes like puffed sweet rice balls called pori urundai using jaggery and ghee, sweet nei appam made out of jaggery, rice and wheat flour, and adai made of boiled rice, dal and appam.

"We will light 365 diyas at the temple nearby for the good health of our brothers for the entire year. The Kartik month is very important for South Indians. On December 5, at Thiruvannamallai in Tamil Nadu, a flame will be lit atop the hill in Lord Shiva's name as it is a very important pilgrim spot. On December 6, all Shiva and Muruga temples in the city will light countless lamps at sunset," said 76-year-old Vijaya Venkateswaran from Matunga. Karthigai Deepam festivities at the Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleshwara Swamy temple in Tamil Nadu are the most famous and go on for 10 days.

"North Indians celebrate Raksha Bandhan and in Maharashtra people celebrate Bhau Beej. This is what majority of south Indians celebrate for their brothers and sisters. Wherever there is a concentration of south Indian families in the city like Chembur, Matunga, Vashi, Nerul, etc. you'll get a glimpse of the festival," said Kashi Vishwanath, a businessman residing in Matunga.

The festival is also celebrated as a constellation of six stars appears in the sky. According to Indian mythology, six celestial nymphs reared six babies in the Saravana tank, which later joined together to form the six-faced Karthik, also called Muruga, son of Lord Shiva and Parvati.
 

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