Niraputhari Harvest At Putharikkandam

In a brave effort by the city corporation to preserve the age-old tradition, rice was harvested from the paddy sowed in a thirty cents of land set aside for this at the Putharikkandam grounds. The Minister for Transport and Devaswom, V Shivakumar, inaugurated this function.

“It is from the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple that ‘niraputhari’ is sent to all other temples. We are very proud that this year we followed that tradition in the exact same manner as it was done during the olden days. What is now Putharikkandom ground used to be the place where rice was cultivated for the ‘niraputhari’ tradition,”

Members of the ‘Karshika Karma Sena’ were involved with the farming and harvesting of the paddy. Paddy cultivation is traditionally part of the Kerala culture while rice is the most important cereal and staple food produced as well as consumed in Kerala.

As per tradition, the reaped harvest was carried to the Sri Padamanabha Swamy temple in a procession and handed over to Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, erstwhile King of Travancore. “During the past several years, rice for ‘niraputhari’ was brought from Tamil Nadu. This dependence on a neighboring state, culturally and geologically different from Kerala, often caused delays when it came to carrying out of this tradition on time. So the City Corporation joined hands with ‘Karshika Karma Sena’, to reap the harvest this time from the city itself,” C N Mini, Agricultural Officer, Kudappanakunnu,.