(Standing from sixth left) Karambir, Jegannathan and Yii with Hindu devotees at the Tamil New Year celebration at Kamini Durga Eswari Amman Temple.
MIRI: More than 200 Hindu devotees and their family members gathered at Kamini Durga Eswari Amman Temple in Taman Tunku here to celebrate the Tamil New Year yesterday.
The colourful event organised by Miri Hindu Society (MHS) was attended by Miri Mayor Adam Yii.
“Tamil New Year is one of the world’s most vibrant and colourful events celebrated with revelry across the globe.
“Religious events like this showcase religious understanding among races while promoting harmony and unity,” Yii said in his address.
He praised the organiser for bringing the Hindu community together through such events and urged them to organise more such religious events to help promote peace and unity among Mirians.
Also present were MHS vice-president Jegannathan Maran and councillor Karambir Singh.
According to Jegannathan, Tamil New Year which is also known as Tamil Puthandu or Puthuvarusham is the first day of the first month (known as Chittirai) in the Tamil Calendar.
“It is celebrated based on Hindu Lunar calendar ‘Panchaganga’ and it falls on April 14 every year.
“Based on the Tamil 60-year cycle, this year’s name is ‘Vilambi’ and the year’s colour is blue,” he said.
He added that Puthandu which signifies abundance is observed with prayers throughout the day.
Yesterday’s event commenced at 9.30am with ‘varuna pooja’ followed by ‘ghanapathi pooja’, new year special ‘abhisegam’ and special family ‘archanai’ with ‘mahaprasadam’ or offerings.
It ended with a specially cooked sumptuous lunch prepared by temple volunteers.
Children present at the celebration received goodies from MHS which were distributed to them by Yii and Karambir.