Thirukalyanam showcases Madurai’s festive spirit

MADURAI: The city of Madurai, which never sleeps, agreed, but what does its best ‘awake’ life look like? Thousands of devotees thronging the annual Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple for Thirukalyanam on Thursday as part of the annual Chithirai festival stood testimony for just that.

The Thursday festival had devotees of the celestial wedding of Goddess Meenakshi with Lord Sundareswarar, a key highlight of the annual Chithirai festival. Amid the chanting of mantras and Vedic hymns, the devotees witnessed the spectacular wedding at 8.50 am. The Thali (Mangalsutra) was tied thrice as per the ritual.

Earlier, ‘Padha puja’ was performed for Lord Sundareswarar at the entrance of west tower of the temple. Many in front of the wedding stage performed ‘kappu kattu’ ceremony and followed by sumangali puja and other rituals that began from 8.15 am onwards.

On the tenth day of the festival, which is observed during the month of ‘Chithirai’ in the Tamil calendar, the devotees observed the celebration of the divine wedding. At the time of the celestial wedding, the temple priests chanted hymns, and the devotees kept both their hands folded together as a sign of respect and offered prayers on the auspicious occasion.

The deities were dressed in silk saris and adorned with fine jewellery for the grand occasion.

After waiting for hours together, the devotees ha a dharshan to seek divine blessings from deities. Many women replaced their ‘thalis’ (mangalsutra) with new ones at the venue as per ritual. Rose water and flowers were sprinkled on the deities.

The idols of the Lord and the Goddess were decked up with floral garlands and silk cloths during the ceremony. The wedding stage, which was set up at the northwest Aadi Veethi junction inside the temple, was colorfully decorated with jasmine and roses. To facilitate devotees, pandals were erected at the north and west aadi veethis.