One of the Unique & Divine Dasara Celebration- Kulasai Dasara

A wonderful and Divine festival that I have ever experienced🙏

So, how it all started 😁 here is a story....

I was researching places to visit during the Dasara holidays, and then I read about Kulasai Dasara somewhere. The visuals and details were so impressive to me that I instantly decided I had to attend it. Since Dasara (Dussehra) was just 40 days away, I quickly started planning for it.

But then I started facing so many difficulties 😵‍💫 in planning and in establishing contact with local people just to get the details when and where to exactly reach, whom to contact, where to stay, as it is small village, rarely any option for staying there, and mostly people speak Tamil only and I had no contact of any local person in that village and also I contacted some of my contacts who are in Tamilnadu, just to enquire about this festival but they also had no idea about it. but I had a very strong feel of experiencing this celebration anyhow.

So somehow I linked all the dots, planned and made it happen and that was no less than a real achievement 🤩 for me, as it was really not easy for me to gather the details and plan this on my own.

Sometimes we just feel drawn to something without really understanding why. It's like a strong feeling or a force pulling us towards it 🙏. That's exactly how I felt about this festival.

First please watch the instagram small videos 👇 for better visual experience:

1. Video 🎥: Dasara vibe

2. Video 🎥: Kulasai Dasara highlights 📹

3. Video 🎥: Dasara at kulasai- Day time 📹

Now come to the point about the celebration 😁, which I witnessed after reaching there:

Kulasai (Kulasekarpattanam) village is famous for grand celebration of dasara (dushehra) in 300 yr old temple "Mutharamman temple". 

This temple is 15 km from Tiruchendoor in Thoothukudi district of Tamilnadu.

Kulasai Dasara Celebration which goes on for 10 days and it is truly vibrant, shows colour painted faces and body, colourful attire, various emotions, rituals, traditions and many strong beliefs. 

For this celebration, devotees follow various strict rules, it is not just about wearing God's attire and painting faces, there are many rituals they have to follow for this. To learn about all this and experience the culture, I came to this village, Kulasekarpattanam, in Tamil Nadu."

Before dasara day, Devotees observe the fast for days 41, 11, 21 and so on and they keep Vesham of different Gods, Kali, lord shiva, Hanuman, Ganesha etc and wear costume of God,and go to different villages for taking alms (money or grains) and then they come back to the temple to visit the Mutharamman temple on dasara day (10th day) and to offer the collected money and grains. and later they take a dip at sea water and perform the final pooja.

And this last day, dasara day is something amazing. Lacs of devotees gather in this festival from different places of Tamilnadu. 

What I noticed this time was that the village was incredibly crowded. People were sleeping and sitting on the roadside, at bus stops, inside temple premises, and outside homes. I also observed numerous guests at every home; the houses seemed full. Even the sandy shore by the sea was filled with people. Wherever I looked, there were people, all gathered to visit this festival.

This festival is mainly popular in Thoothukudi district, Tirunelveli district and Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu.

It is something divine experience and eerie also at times, whole ambience is filled with the sound of drum beats 🥁 and the smokes of the fire pot 🔥 carried by them, folk music 🎶, dance and with different chants like "Om Kali, Jay Kali"........

Drum beats 🥁 are so energetic, they make it very difficult not to shake your legs on those beats 🙂.

And all of this was happening nonstop throughout the day... The streets were super crowded, leaving barely any space to walk. Every devotee brought along their own group of people and drummers, marching and dancing together to the beat of their drums. Due to the massive crowd, you could see little kids sitting on their parents' shoulders while the parents navigated through the bustling crowd 😁🤩...

When I reached daytime around 12 PM in the village, weather was extremely hot and sunny, initially I felt exhausted 😩, but once I entered in the village streets and heard the nonstop drum beats 🥁 on the streets under the sun, devotees were so energetic, chanting mantra continuously in louder sound...and then I too started feeling so energetic all of a sudden despite of difficult weather conditions.

As the evening progressed, too much smoke filled the atmosphere,  I was focused on collecting memories and not to miss a single moment, observing people and the rituals, and capturing photos, it was too difficult to breath due to the smoke when close to the area where they keep the firepots. eyes were getting full of tears but I was near to them 😁 among all photographers as I was focused in collecting some good shots 📸

But all the aspects were there during this dasara day, on one side, there's a profound spiritual aura as devotees immerse themselves in rituals and complete their poojas. Various devotees express a range of emotions, adding depth to the atmosphere. On the other side, amidst the festivities, children can be seen joyfully playing and having fun, whether in the ocean or on the grounds, adding a vibrant energy to the celebration

And then there is a mela-like crowd, with all the shops there, and people come with their families

I felt like, all things happening at a same time😵. 

Also it was like big Mela, there was "khoya paya kaaryalaya" (Lost and found office) 😁. Numerous announcements were also being made for the lost ones (as it was huge crowd due to dasara). This reminded me of dasara mela of my own city 😁, where I used to go in my childhood.

Besides the devotees and puja celebrations near the temple, there are also dance shows arranged at various locations in the town for Dasara.

And I heard that some of these devotees get their makeup done by the makeup artists 😮.

Also when I travelled different part of Tamilnadu for almost last 5 days during Navratri days, everywhere I felt the festive vibes, loud music and some pandals setup at most of the streets or in the market and every evening groups of devotees who collected money or grains from different areas during the day would gather and dance their way towards the temples.

Also, on the day of dasara when devotees were reaching to the temple for pooja, there are many different strange customs I noticed some were piercing cheeks with trishul (trident). It was very shocking for me. Oh and I already mentioned, Day was extremely Hot 🔥 🥵...but excitement was full 🤩.

In evening, I come across some family in the village also who were so excited to talk to me despite of language barrier 😄 and we ended up taking pictures and videos together, which was super fun 😁.

On Dasara day, I stayed in Kulasai village until 11 PM at night, capturing numerous moments that were completely new to me. I enjoyed the entire day wandering alone, observing things, and taking pictures.

And then I reached back to hotel in Tiruchendoor by 1:30 AM 😁. Again travelling alone is fun 🙃, no matter if it is day or night..but as it was festival time..so almost whole night people were awake. So I didn't feel like any place was deserted or unsafe. Though I had to walk approx 2 km from kulasai to reach the bus stand in the night 🤣  to catch the bus for Tiruchendur. Initially, I was unaware of this and thought I just had to reach the main road after leaving the village. It turned out to be quite a trek😵; I ended up walking for almost 45 minutes.

But I really didn't feel any problem at the village as I enjoyed the whole day, however later I heard that there were washroom problem and not available proper considering the crowd in the village that day .

So if someone goes to observe the festival with the family, they may face these problems. Being a solo traveler, though, it was manageable and even enjoyable 😉. 

Stay options: 

Many Hotel can be found in Tiruchendoor. But in Kulasai village there are not many stay options, and the few basic stay options available, which supposed to be booked for all 10 days of Navratri ☹️. This I came to know when I enquired before my visit.

How to reach Kulasai village:

During Navratri, buses run 24*7 between Tiruchendur to Kulasekarpattanam.

So Travelers can reach Tiruchendur in Tamilnadu and then commute from there to Kulasekarpattanam village.

Now bye bye....., enjoy some more pictures of Dasara 😊.

For more travel stories and videos, find me on instagram @shweta.traveler