The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram will present Onavillu, a traditional ceremonial bow, to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in connection with its consecration on January 22.
Temple tantri Tharananellur Satheesan Namboothiripad and administrative committee members, including Avittam Thirunal Adithya Varma of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore, will hand over the Onavillu to representatives of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust at a function at 5.30 p.m. on January 18, a statement from the temple executive office has said.
The Onavillu will then be taken around the temple in a ‘parikrama’ (circumambulation) by devotees chanting hymns.
Pictorial depictions
The Onavillu is a ceremonial bow presented to the deity of the Padmanabhaswamy temple on Thiruvonam day every year. The bows have pictorial depictions on wood on themes such as Ananthashayanam, Dasavatharam, SreeRama Pattabhishekam, and SreeKrishna Leela, and those for Sastha and Ganesha.
The preparation of the bow takes 41 days. These are made using yellow kadam (tree) and mahogany to certain specifications. The wood is first painted yellow on both sides and then red on one side and only then are the depiction of fables painted in miniature using red, white, black, yellow, green, blue and orange natural dyes. Red tassels give it the finishing touches.
