PALAKKAD: Kachamkurissy temple in the Palakkad town of Kollengode denied permission for a transgender couple - Neelankrishna and Adwaika - to get married on their premises on Thursday.
The tying of the 'thaali' (sacred thread/wedding chain) was to be held at the temple between 9 am and 10 am. However, the temple authorities under the Malabar Devaswom Board, are reported to have denied permission to them two days ago.
Subsequently, the wedding ceremony including the 'thaalikettu' ritual was held at the Shenkunthar Kalyana Mandapam located on Pollachi road in Kollengode.
Neelankrishna and Adwaika who are employed in the Finmart branch in Kollengode said that they had a right to marry and live together like the members of all communities.
Vysakh, one of their colleagues in Finmart, said that they had printed an invitation stating that the the 'thaalikettu' ritual would be at the Kachamkurissy temple and that the wedding would be held at the Shenkunthar auditorium. "However, the temple authorities told us that since there was no precedence, they had decided not to allow the 'thaali' to be tied at the temple. They told us that they denied permission to avoid any future controversy," he said.
Vysakh added that around 150 members, including Adwaika's parents, attended the wedding.
While Neelankrishna, a native of Alappuzha, was employed in the sales division, Adwaika, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, was earlier in the sales department and was later transferred to the billing section.