Record breaking wedding bookings in Guruvayur as Chingam arrives

THRISSUR: A record number of weddings are set to take place at Guruvayur on the first Sunday of the Malayalam month of Chingam. As many as 377 weddings have been booked in the temple for August 23. This is the highest number of wedding bookings recorded so far. Since there are still days before August 23, temple authorities expect more bookings. If that happens, the number of weddings could reach 400. The present record is 334 weddings, held at the temple in September 2024. More than 350 weddings were booked on that day.

Expecting a huge crowd, the devaswom board has begun planning measures to coordinate the arrangements efficiently. A permanent wedding mandapam is also being constructed, which can be used regularly in the future. The mandapam is being offered by a devotee from Chennai.

The new mandapam is being constructed under the leadership of Sudhil Kumar, a sculptor from Kothachira. At present, there are four wedding mandapams in the temple. When the number of weddings exceeds 200, an additional temporary mandapam is usually arranged. However, the new mandapam presently under construction will be a permanent one.