From the Dinamalar archive · 9 April 2009 · page 1

With the Vedas sounding, the kumbabishekam at the Meenakshi temple

The kumbabishekam every quarter had waited for. Senior sivachariyars gathered on the golden vimanam of the Amman, renewed with thirty kilograms of gold worth four crore rupees, and performed the abhishekam with holy water at 9.17 in the morning. Dinamalar, 9 April 2009, page 1

Madurai, 9 April —

The kumbabishekam of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple was performed yesterday amid the sound of the Vedas and the Thirumurai.

Restoration began two years ago at six crore rupees. It has now been carried out to the value of fourteen crore, through 320 donors. Thirty kilograms of gold given by devotees was worked into a golden casing for the Amman sannidhi tower, worth four crore.

The consecration poojas began on the 26th of the previous month with the Vigneshwara pooja, and the yagasala poojas on 2 April. Because consecrating every sannidhi in the temple at one moment is difficult, the parivara shrines around the Amman and Swami sannidhis were consecrated on 6 April.

The second session of the yaga pooja followed yesterday at 3.30 in the morning. At five the sivachariyars carried the consecrated water to fourteen towers, five of them rajagopurams. At eight it was brought to the golden vimanams of the Amman and the Swami, and the consecration poojas were performed.

At 9.17 the chairman of the board of trustees, Karumuthu Kannan, waved a green flag; the devotees roared Om Namasivaya; and the maha kumbabishekam was performed on every tower at once, the golden ones among them.

Sprinkler machines carried the holy water out over the crowd, and special poojas followed in the sanctum. At seven that evening the deities of the Amman and the Swami processed along the four Masi streets. The mandalabishekam begins today.

The 2009 consecration in numbers

Day of the kumbabishekam: 8 April 2009
Moment of the maha kumbabishekam: 9.17 am
Restoration, as first costed: Rs 6 crore
Restoration, as finally spent: Rs 14 crore
Donors: 320
Gold given by devotees: 30 kg, valued at Rs 4 crore
Towers consecrated: 14 gopurams

8 April 2009, hour by hour

03.30 The second session of the yaga pooja.
05.00 The sivachariyars carried the consecrated water up to fourteen towers, five of them rajagopurams.
08.00 The water reached the golden vimanams of the Amman and the Swami. At the same hour an eagle began to circle the rajagopurams.
09.17 The chairman of the trustees waved a green flag and every tower was consecrated at the same moment.
19.00 The deities processed along the four Masi streets.

Notes from the day

The observations the paper ran beside the report.

The police commissioner had ordered that no one bring a mobile phone into the temple. Police and devotees alike stood on the upper level talking on theirs.
Police and government officers used their standing to bring people they knew up to the terrace without passes. The temple administration had made good arrangements; the officials made difficulties of this kind.
Home guards had been posted at the key points, and at the Amman sannidhi and on East Chithirai street they could not hold the crowd.
Devotees holding passes queued for a kilometre, back as far as the Avani Moola streets.
There was a single metal detector frame at each entrance, so the screening ran slow.
At the Amman sannidhi gate some policemen sent pass holders round by the east gopuram, and they stood a long time in the wrong queue.
From eight in the morning an eagle circled the rajagopurams. All four Chithirai streets had been dressed with banana trees.
Devotees called up to the bhattars to sprinkle the holy water on them. What was thrown from the east rajagopuram did not reach them, and they ran to the other towers.
Devotees without passes were let in through the west gopuram after half past ten.
The eight banks around the temple were shut until noon, and the shops on Central Market, Masi and Avani Moola streets were given the day.
After a quarter to nine nobody else was allowed onto the terrace. They were seated on the Adi streets to watch from there.
Several thousand pass holders came before six in the morning and stood in a queue that lasted until half past eight.
Announcements of the poojas and warnings from the police sounded from loudspeakers around the temple without stopping.
After half past nine the whole crowd tried to leave at once while the crowd on the Avani Moola and Masi streets pushed to get in. The crush was severe.
The police had banned the free feeding, but food packets, cold drinks, water and buttermilk were handed out around the temple and added to the congestion.
Madurai had been baking for days. That morning, from first light, it stayed overcast.