THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Raj Bhavan organised a Vidyarambham ceremony, introducing children to the world of learning, on the occasion of Vijayadashmi on Tuesday.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan helped the tiny tots with their first letters at the event organised by the Raj Bhavan held in Thiruvananthapuram.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also initiated children into writing their first letters at a Vidyarambham ceremony at Poojappura Saraswati Mandapam in Thiruvananthapuram today.
Speaking on occasion, Shashi Tharoor said, “‘Vidyarambham’ is a special occasion. All of India celebrates Dussehra Vijayadashami but in Kerala, Vijayadashami is a day when the initiation of learning happens, so it’s the job of elders to teach children how to write.”
“I teach the kids who come, in three languages, we put grains of rice on a platter and with their fingers we trace the letters, so I do ‘Om Hari Sri’ in Sanskrit, in Malayalam and in English”, Tharoor said .
The Vidayarambham ceremony was also organised in Paravur Temple in Kerala’s Kochi to help children write their first letters on Vijayadashmi.
In Kerala, the ‘Vidyarambham’ ceremony is usually conducted on the last day of Navaratri to introduce tiny tots to the world of learning and knowledge.
Vidyarambham or ‘Ezthiniruthu’ is one of many customs practised across Kerala on Vijayadashmi day. Basically, Vidyarambham means the initiation of knowledge (Vidya means knowledge and aarambham means initiate).
The children are first made to write in a plate of rice and then the person who initiates the child to writing also scribbles letters on the child’s tongue using a gold ring or coin. This symbolically represents the initiation of writing and speaking. (ANI)