Citrai Tīrttam (Madurai) 1943

Chithirai Theertham is the twelfth and last day of the Madurai Chithirai Thiruvizha, when the festival closes with the sacred bath, the Theerthavari.

The story. Every temple festival ends as a yajna ends, with the avabhritha snana, the purifying bath. After the coronation, the conquest, the wedding and the chariots, the deities are bathed in holy water, and the merit of the whole festival is shared with every devotee who bathes with them.

At the temple. Meenakshi and Sundareswarar receive the abhishekam of the Theerthavari, and devotees take the sacred water. In the evening the divine couple go round the streets on the Velli Rishabam, the silver bull, and the festival flag raised on the first day is lowered. In many years this is also the eve of, or the same day as, Kallazhagar's entry into the Vaigai.