Team News Riveting
The blink-and-miss weddings at Guruvayur Temple will no longer baffle the bride and the groom. Literally, till the Covid-19 pandemic is over!
The couple will get “sufficient” time for ‘thaalikettu’ or tying of the mangalsutra before Lord Shri Krishna. For, the district authorities had put a cap to conduct only 60 marriages in a day as the historic temple reopened today.
The decision was taken at the meeting attended by the officials of the Thrissur district administration and temple authorities. While only 10 people including the bride and groom will be allowed to attend the ceremony, all Covid-19 protocols will have to be followed.
The parents have to book online. Only 60 marriages will be allowed in a single day. The temple has a record of solemnizing 264 weddings in a single day.
This will contest the myth associated with the blink-and-miss weddings at Guruvayur. With mad rush at the temple mandapam (raised platform) where the marriage ceremony takes place, the couple has to gallop through.
Weddings in Kerala are exceptionally short, with ‘thaalikettu’ taking hardly seconds and the entire wedding getting over in a matter of minutes. But in the Guruvayur temple mandapam, it further curtails.
There are three mandapam in the temple where every Hindu malayali has a dream to tie the nuptial knot with the divine blessings of Lord Krishna.
The couple can now marry at ease; without bothering whether the bride will get exchanged in the crowd as the Kerala cinema puts it well on the big screen.
The 1992 Malayalam movie “Grihapravesham”, starring Jagadeesh and Rekha, is about the confusion that ensues after a groom ties the “thaali” around the wrong bride’s neck, thanks to the crowd at Guruvayur!
