-- Samir Umarye BICHOLIM NOV 2: The Tripurari Poornima a festival of light and lamps that mark the end of the Diwali festival is all set to attract hundreds of devotees of the Vithal temple and visitors for the famous boat competition to be held at Vithalapur Sanquelim.
The annual festival held at the Vithal temple -Sanquelim is organised by the Vithalapur Deepawali Utsav Samiti in association with the Department of Art & Culture, Information and Publicity department, Goa Tourism Development Corporation and the Goa tourism department on November 2. Tripurari Poornima, is the full moon day in the Kartik month in a traditional Hindu calendar. The day celebrates the victory of Lord Shiva over the demon Tripurasura and the destruction of the three cities – Tripuri – made by demons. The festivities of Diwali conclude on Tripurari Poornima and since last several years the festival at Sanquelim has gained importance at the state level because of the boat competition. The legend has it that a powerful demon named Tripuri or Tripurasura built three cities of gold, silver and iron with the blessing of Lord Shiva. The demon became so powerful that he started attacking humans and the gods (devas). Brahma and Vishnu failed to contain Tripurasura who was armed with several boons from Shiva. Finally, the task of annihilating the demon fell on Lord Shiva and after three days of fight, Lord Shiva killed Tripurasura and destroyed the three cities – Tripuri. This great victory happened on the full moon day in Kartik month and therefore the day is celebrated as Tripuri Poornima. Lighting of lamps in temples and homes in the evening after sunset in honor of Shiva is a major event on this day. At Sanquelim the tradition of celebrating the festival is more than 20 years. "Earlier, the people used to float lamps in the Walwanti river to celebrate the festival and there used to be several programmes in the temple" the president of the Vithalapur Deepawali Utsav Samiti, Arun Naik told Herald adding "due to lack of fund the tradition was dying and it was at this time that the government supported it and now it is a state festival." Annually several boats made of thermocol are floated in the Walvanti river decorated with lights and different colours. "The festival is attended by not only Goans but also foreigners who are interested in knowing about our rich tradition." Naik told "this also gives a chance to local artists to display their talents." On 2nd November the procession of shrikrishna will begin at 7 pm. At 8 pm there will be vocal performance by Ravindra Sathe. The palanque procession of lord Vitthal would begin at 11 pm followed by the burning the effegy of demon Tripurasur. The boat competition would begin at midnight after the fireworks at the Walwanti river. This year there are also attractive prizes for the boat competition. The prizes include cash prize of Rs 25,000(1st); Rs 20,000 (2nd); 15,000 (3rd) besides a trophy. Besides this there are several other prizes of Rs 10,000(4th); 7,500 (5th); 2,500(6th) and consolation prizes. Those who are interested could contact the tourism department or the secretary of the local samiti, samri Desai (9923119009); Treasure, Mahesh Naik (9422575055). Besides this special buses would leave for Sanquelim from Panjim.
