Celestial wedding of Lord Venkateswara to be held in Kerala

The symbolic celestial wedding of Lord Venkataeswara, the main deity of the richest Indian shrine at Tirumala hills, will be held in Kerala at three locations from April 18.
This is the first time the ceremony is being held in the state. Celestial weddings would be held at the Thuravoor Mahakshetra temple in Alapuzha district on April 18, at Siva temple ground here on April 20 and Thiruvanchikulam Mahadeva temple at Kodungalloor in Thrissur on April 21.
The archakas who perform pujas at the Srivari temple at Tirumala are the officiating priests for 'Srivari Kalyana' of the Lord. At least 100 officials from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam are expected to be here as part of the rituals, S Venkata Sharma, Chief Liasion officer of TTD, and Public Relations officer T Ravi told reporters here.

The festival will be conducted as per Hindu custom of marriage with homam, samprokshana and pravara (recitation of the line of ancestors of the Lord and Goddess), they said.
TTD has so far performed the celestial weddings in major cities including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Chennai, Bangalore and in US and Canada among over 30 countries.
Vedic pandits from Tirumala would come to Kerala to perform various rituals as part of the celestial wedding, which will be free.

Kerala Srivari Seva Trust in association with TTD is organising the function in the state.
The idol would be brought to Kerala late on April 17 and after a three hour darshan for devotees, taken to Thuravoor Mahakshetra temple in Alapuzha district for the celestial wedding on April 18. The idols would be brought back to Kochi the same day.

On Apr 20, the celestial wedding would be held at Siva temple ground at Ernakulam and then taken to Kodungalloor the next day for the ceremony, General convener of the organising committee P Ramachandran, and C G Rajagopal, event convener, said.