MADURAI: The Maha Kumbabishekam of the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai was held on Thursday morning, 17 years after the previous consecration, with thousands of devotees witnessing the elaborate rituals at the historic temple.
The consecration was held between 7.37 am and 7:50 am. The rituals began early in the morning with the completion of the 12th phase of the yaga puja in the early morning hours. The sacred vessels (kadams) containing the consecrated water were then taken out in a procession from the yagasala at 5.45 am.
Amid the chanting of Vedic hymns and the resonating beats of traditional percussion instruments, the Maha Kumbabishekam was performed for the golden vimanas and Raja Gopurams at 7. 33 am - 7:50 am, marking the completion of the main consecration rituals.
Large numbers of devotees who had obtained colour-coded passes were accommodated atop the various temple mandapams to witness the rituals. Meanwhile, several devotees without passes began gathering on streets and roads leading to the temple from Wednesday night, hoping to have darshan after the consecration.
General darshan is scheduled to begin from 10 am on Thursday. Devotees will be allowed to enter the temple through the West and South Gopurams, while the West Gopuram will be used as the exit route as part of the crowd-management arrangements.
As part of preparations for the consecration, 186 renovation works were undertaken at a total cost of Rs 32.29 crore. Of these, 86 works were funded from temple funds at a cost of Rs 15.40 crore, while 100 works were taken up with contributions from donors amounting to Rs 16.89 crore. The works included renovation of gopurams, painting of mandapams and electrical works.
The previous consecration was held on April 8, 2009. Though temple consecrations are traditionally conducted once in 12 years, the schedule was delayed following a major fire at the Veera Vasantharayar Mandapam on February 2, 2018. The temple administration decided to conduct the consecration only after restoring the mandapam in keeping with its heritage character.
The restoration and renovation works subsequently paved the way for the consecration, which was held on Thursday with elaborate rituals and arrangements for devotees.
Ministers CTR Nirmal Kumar, S Ramesh, Viswanathan and several other leaders and officials were present during the festival.
