By Sandhya Sridhar
Historian V. Sriram conducted a Kapaliswarar Temple Festival Walk on Sunday, April 2, 2023, one of the days of its historic Panguni festival. The hundreds of years of recorded history of this temple in Mylapore can be tracked back along the four mada veedhis or streets that criss-cross its outer perimeter.The group of history buffs began the walk at the sixteen-pillared mandapam of the temple to see Lord Shiva as Kapali make a jaunty return to his abode to the accompaniment of nadaswarams and a band, along with the goddess and his two sons, as well as Chandikeswarar, who is always seen with Shiva.Join us on this walk with the Lede’s Indic Trails, as we listen to Sriram recount the history of the festival, the rituals and practises that have adapted over hundreds of years, anecdotal accounts of street names and the people who made the festival happen over the many years of its celebration.