SRI BANNARI AMMAN TEMPLE

Kundam Festival, which is celebrated in the Tamil Month of Panguni, is the most famous annual festival. Thousands of devotees from different directions throng the temple in this month which is marked by festivity and gaiety.
The festival begins on Monday succeeding the New Moon day in the Tamil month of Panguni. The festival days are animated by concerts organized by the temple authority in which eminent musicians participate.
Special poojas are performed to the goddess Next day the idol of the goddess is placed on a Chapram, a structure like palanquin. The procession passes slowly down the streets of the nearby villages. Drums are played by the devotees during the procession. People pray to the goddess with coconuts, plantains and camphor during the procession. The chapram is carried back to the temple on the eighth day which falls on Monday.
Various rituals pertaining to the festival are performed continuously. On the fourteenth day of the festival which falls on Sunday devout pilgrims have their head tonsured as a sort of offering to the goddess.
On the fifteenth day the priest and the devotees tread in the kundam after Midnight. It has been kept ready with burning logs of wood in the narrow pit, in front of the temple. Treading takes place on the succeeding day too, those who have been observing penance can only participate in the festival, finally, animals also tread in the kundam. It is witnessed by countless number of devotees.