Historic Kumbhabhishekam at Sri Meenakshi Temple

By S. Narayanan

PEARLAND: Thursday, November 23, 2017 Thanksgiving Day was an important historic Maha Kumbhabhishekam day for our greater Houston Community. More than 4,000 people attended to witness the great event. The weather was picture perfect and the priests did a superb job to bring the devotional atmosphere for everyone. Devotees were very happy to carry the Silver plated Kalasam with holy water for the Vigraha Abhisekam. The celestial wedding of Sri Subramania and Sri Sita Rama Kalyana Utsavam was witnessed by thousands of devotees. The Utsav Murthies procession was a sight to watch. The helicopter showered flowers to the Vimanas and Gopurams.

Installation of the 63 Nayanmargal, 12 Alwargal, 3 Acharyars, 18 Holy Steps for Ayyappa made this Kumbhabhisekam a very unique one. The Yagasala puja and chanting by 30 priests was appreciated by all the devotees. Raja Veedi stood magnificently with 16 feet granite pillars, it gave a new grand entrance for our great Temple. Devotees felt as if they were in India attending a Kumbhabhishekam. The new Nayanmargal and Alwargal Mandapams with 8 feet granite pillars created an ambiance of being in an ancient South Indian Temple built by kings. Devotees appreciated the new teak wood doors to the sannidhis.

This CTRP project completes the vision of the MTS founders. This project expanded the Corner Mandapams and connected all four Corner Mandapams and the Main Temple with the Raja Veedi that has a magnificent sixteen feet ceiling and ornamental granite pillars. Now the devotees can enter the Main Temple complex and visit all the deities by walking underneath the covered structure. This will be very useful to all and specifically for children and senior citizens during inclement weather.

Our Temple Sthapathi, Sri Padma Sri Muthiah Sthapathi, has been giving us continuous guidance from the beginning of this project. He was the Sthapathi for the original construction of the Temple in 1982 and has continued to guide us on all the expansions and improvements, including this CTRP project. We are thankful to Sthapathi for sending 16 shilpies from India to complete this project. I thank our architect Ashok Mungara for his drive towards excellence in the construction of the CTRP.

The cultural program during the Kumbhabhisekam festivities were unbelievably good. Devotees proudly chanted Adi Shankaracharya Storams, Divya Prabhandham and Thiruvasakam. The audience was so involved with the music concert by Veeramani Raju, the whole auditorium felt the divine songs. Dr. Shoba Raju’s concert and releasing of new album will be remembered by everyone. The speech about Nayanmargal and Alwargal by Dr. Gnanasambandan was so good the no one wanted him to finish the speech. Sit down banana leaf lunch with delicious food was provided to all and everyone enjoyed the meal with gratitude.

The parking arrangements were flawless for these many visitors.

Chairman Narayanan thanked everyone who helped to make this project a reality in particular secretary G.N. Prasad, treasurer Sasi Pillai, construction committee Chair AVN Reddy, Vinod Kaila, Ravi Vasu, Fundraising committee S. G. Appan, Venugopal Menon, Sam Kannappan, Kumar Bashyam, Tupil Narasiman, Dhani Kannan, T.A. Dorairajan, Muthuraman Solayappan, Kumbhabhishekam committee Padmini Nathan, Sheila Sriram, Nachal Sethuraman, Sundar Arun, C. Vijayarajan, Chandrakala Gupta, Kamala Raghavan, Ramachandra Reddy, Ramamurthy Ramsundar, Bhargavi Golla, Mala Gopal, Malar Narayanan, Prema Prasad, Senthil Devaraj, Muthukumar.

To summarize, Great Religious ceremony, Wonderful Cultural Programs, Delicious Food.

This is the 11th Kumbhabhisekam for Sri Meenakshi Temple and will be remembered by everyone for years to come.