Arattu Ritual: thiruvananthapuram airport Closed...
The number of airplanes landing at thiruvananthapuram airport in kerala and taking off is not less. Despite this, this airport is closed twice every year for five-five hours. On tuesday also this airport was closed till 9 pm. The reason for this is that the journey of Shri Padmanabhaswamy temple (Alpasi Arattu Procession) goes till the sea. The runway of the airport falls on the way of this Alpasi Arattu journey. The runway is kept closed for five hours as the pilgrims walk on foot. This tradition of taking out the journey from the temple (Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple) is thousands of years old.
It is said that this tradition is 5,000 years old. Every year this journey from the temple to the sea goes through a fixed path and comes back. This time too, the thiruvananthapuram airport remained closed from 4 pm to 9 pm on Tuesday. During this, a total of six flights including four international flights were changed. Overall, the work of the airport was completely closed in these five hours.
Airport closes twice a yearThis incident of airport closure happens twice a year. The airport closes in March-April for the Painkuni festival and again in October-November for the Arattu procession. In this yatra, Lord vishnu is taken from the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple on a palanquin to the Shangmugham beach behind the airport. Here Lord vishnu is bathed with full rituals.
This journey has been going on for centuries. The way of travel is also fixed. In the year 1932, when there was a proposal to build an airport on its way, it was opposed because of the travel itself. At the same time, an agreement was reached that there would be no obstacle in the way of the journey and the way would be given for the journey. This is the reason why even today travel is allowed to pass through the runway and the airport is closed for four-five hours.
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