Terrifying visuals showing a 60-foot temple chariot overturning around midnight yesterday during the annual Mayana Kollai festival on the banks of the Palar River in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district have gone viral.
The incident left seven people seriously injured.
The accident occurred as the chariot from Kazhinjur near Katpadi was being pulled from the riverbed onto the road after the ritual procession. The injured were subsequently admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Adukkamparai for treatment, according to ANI.
The chariot is believed to have lost its balance and tipped to one side, trapping nearly 10 people underneath. Police personnel and bystanders quickly stepped in to rescue those caught beneath it, while the seriously injured were taken to a government hospital for treatment.
District Collector Subbulakshmi, Superintendent of Police Sivaraman, and Revenue Divisional Officer Senthil Kumar visited the scene to assess the situation. The Collector later met the injured at the hospital to check on their health. Authorities have ordered an inquiry into the mishap and directed festival organizers to take necessary precautions to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The Mayana Kollai festival is a major annual event in Vellore district. It was conducted on Sunday evening along the banks of the Palar River. During the celebrations, deities from 10 villages were adorned, mounted on temple chariots, and taken in a procession to the riverbed, where devotees carried out traditional rituals and offerings.
After the mishap, residents of Kazhinjur removed only the idol from the toppled chariot and carried it back to their village.
As per government norms, temple chariots are not permitted to exceed 12 feet in height. However, during the Mayana Kollai festival, the chariots from Virudhambattu, Kazhinjur, and Mottur are said to rise to nearly 60 feet. A comparable incident was reported in 2023, when a chariot from Mottur village collapsed onto the Palar River riverbed during the festivities.
BJP workers carry out ‘purification’ ritual at Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar temple
Meanwhile, workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conducted what they described as a “purification” ritual by sprinkling cow urine at a temple in Sillod, located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, after Abdul Sattar — a Muslim Shiv Sena MLA and former state minister — visited the shrine for darshan, reported. PTI.
A video showing Sattar at the Shiva temple in Rahimabad, within his Sillod assembly constituency, on the occasion of Mahashivratri on Sunday circulated widely on social media, prompting protests from the BJP and other groups.
Subsequently, footage of BJP workers spraying “gomutra” at the temple as part of the claimed purification ritual also spread online.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Sillod BJP unit chief Manoj Morello alleged that Sattar’s visit had compromised the temple’s sanctity and said this was the reason for carrying out the ritual. He further accused Sattar of trying to appease both communities, referring to his recent Haj pilgrimage and temple visit.
