With the Chithirai festival of Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple fast approaching, the temple authorities have announced that registration of devotees who wish to witness the Meenakshi-Sundareswarar Tirukkalyanam (celestial wedding) will begin on April 21.
The authorities said that the tirukkalyanam, one of the highlights of the Chithirai festival, would take place at the Tiruppugazh Mandapam on North Adi Street of the temple from 9 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. on April 30.
Provision had been made for 6,000 devotees to watch the celestial wedding free of cost and they would be allowed through the South Tower on a first-come-first-served basis. Devotees who wanted to witness the event could also register their names by paying Rs. 500 or Rs. 200 between April 21 and April 25, the authorities said.
Registrations can be done at the ticket counters of the temple on the days when the temple is open and also at Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Teppakulam. Devotees can also procure the model registration forms and send the filled up forms to the Additional Commissioner of the temple or fill up the forms online atwww.madurai meenakshi.org.
“We have allotted more than 50 per cent of the seats for free entry and there will be approximately 1,500 registrations in the Rs. 500-ticket category,” said N. Natarajan, Joint Commissioner.
Registered devotees would be required to furnish an identity proof such as PAN card, voter ID, bank passbook, passport, driving licence, ration card or Aadhaar card, along with their phone numbers and mail IDs. If there are more registrations than the number of seats available, choice will be made through a computerised selection process, the temple officials said in a statement.
The registrations will be processed and a confirmation message sent after April 25, following which the devotees can complete the payment process online on the temple website or at the special counter to be set up at the temple from April 27.
