GURUVAYOOR, Sep 8 : Guruvayoor Sree Krishna temple in Kerala broke its own record in hosting the maximum number of 334 marriages in a day on Sunday, as compared to its previous record of 248 marriages held on August 21, 2022.
The marriage ceremony started early in morning from 0400 hours, instead of the scheduled 0500 hrs, to conduct 334 marriages at six ‘kalyana mandapams’ (wedding pavillions), including by arranging two more ‘kalyana mandapams’ at Southern part (main entrance) of the temple, on Sunday (Chothi Nakshatram (star) in Chingam month of Malayalam calendar).
The marriage ceremony ended at around 1235 hrs, said Guruvayoor Devaswom administrator K P Vijayan.
The entry to the ‘kalyana mandapams’ was restricted through tokens, only 24 persons were allowed to accompany the bride and groom, including relatives, photographers and videographers, to capture the moments in a marriage party, and each couple was allotted five minutes for the ‘thalikettu’ (tying of sacred mangal sutra) and the exchange of Tulsi garlands and later for holding of the bride’s hands by the groom and circumambulation around the lamp on stage to complete the rituals at temple marriage platform, he informed.
The temple authorities provided only a minute to offer prayers to the newly-wed couples in front of the main entrance.
Vijayan said 49 marriages were completed in the first hour by 0500 hrs, while 185 were finished at 0800 hrs and the remaining 320 by 1100 hrs.
No wedding ceremony took place during the ‘Pantheeradi’ pooja and ‘Nivedhyam’ from 0815 hrs to 0900 hrs and 1130 hrs to 1200 hrs, because the sacred temple was closed at that time.
Due to mass marriage ceremony, the general queue for ‘darshan’ was also regulated from 0400 hrs till afternoon due to the huge crowd on Sunday, with the help of devaswom staff and Guruvayoor ACP Sinoj led police team.
Generally, on normal ‘muhurtham’ days, 50 to 100 marriages have been conducted in Guruvayoor temple.
The wedding at Guruvayoor is a divine favour for a new beginning not only for the new couples but also for the two families with the blessing of Lord Sree Krishna, he added.( UNI )
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