Another ‘golden’ day for temple

It was another ‘golden’ day for the Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple on Thursday.

This was not about the jewellery in its vaults but about the rich golden rice stalks grown in the eastern corner of the sprawling Putharikkandam Maidan, once the temple’s and the royal family’s source of rice.

This was for the first time in more than half-a-century that rice harvested from the Putharikkandam Maidan was offered to the temple during ‘Niraputhari’ festival.

Mayor K. Chandrika, in a symbolic gesture, handed over the harvest reaped from the 20 cents in the Maidan to Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the patriarch of the erstwhile Travancore Family.

Marthanda Varma offered the harvest to the Temple melshanthi who symbolically purified the stalks in the Padmatheertha Pond and offered it to the deity.

In olden times, the entire requirement of rice for the Kowdiar royal family and the temple were met from Putharikkandam.

Development rendered the land fallow. Last year, the City Corporation started cultivation in 13 cents along the far eastern corner of the grounds. This year, the area has swelled to 20 cents.