20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
Lonely Boy thinking about his next meal in a fun filled festival.

Kulasai Dasara(Dussehra) is a cult rural festival celebrated during the famous Dussehra festival time in the 300 years’ old Sri Mutharamman Temple or Kulasai Mutharamman Temple located in the small town Kulasekharapatnam, near Thiruchendur in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu. The festival continues for ten days with the start of Navaratri and finishes on the tenth day, ie on Dussehra in the celebration of killing the demon called Magisasuran. The mythological epic tells the story of the town dwellers who once approached their Goddess being helpless to the torture of the cruel mighty demon Magisasuran. Then a baby child took birth with the power of the Goddess and was named Lalithambigai. The baby grew up into a full grown adult by a supernatural power just within 9 days, which are considered the days of Navaratri. On the 10th day, she got herself converted into the almighty symbol of power as Annai Parasakthi Lalithambigai with the razing desire of eliminating evil from the earth. And thus she came strongly on Magisasuran and destroyed him as the symbol of the sin of evils on this day which in turn is being started to be celebrated as Dasara(Dussehra) here. This was the insight of the Kulasai Dussehra festival, though the same festival in the name of Dussehra is celebrated all over India in different places in different ways.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2022
Date Uploaded: 10.2022
Photo Location: Thoothukudi, India
Camera: GFX50S II
Copyright: © Manisekaran Karuppasamy