Keralam’s Guruvayur wedding carnival: 367 couples tied the knot in a single day

Weddings are held at the Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

The temple town of Guruvayur once again witnessed a grand wedding rush on the second Sunday of the Malayalam month of Chingam (August 30, 2026), with hundreds of couples tying the knot under seamless coordination by the Devaswom, police and other government agencies.

As many as 367 marriages including on-site bookings were performed at the Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple till 1:00 PM.

With Devaswom chairman AV Gopinath and administrator S Harigopal taking the lead, Devaswom staff and police personnel united to handle the huge rush, making another hectic Sunday a smooth and well-coordinated affair.

Strong rush

The number of weddings exceeded 100 already at 7 in the morning. With schools closed for the Onam festival, the temple also witnessed a heavy rush of devotees for darshan, adding to the pressure on the temple town.

A special passage was arranged for devotees seeking darshan in front of Deepasthambham. A road has been opened from East Nada through the area near Melpathur Auditorium, which helps regulate the flow of devotees. The arrangement remained in place except when the temple sanctuary was closed for rituals.

The wedding ceremonies started as early as 4 am and continued non-stop at all the six marriage mandapams.

By 11:10 a.m., 362 out of 372 pre-arranged marriages had been concluded. The total rose to 367 by 1pm including seat reservations.

Police took over traffic and crowd control throughout the temple town. The municipality has also strengthened its measures by deploying additional marriage registration officers.

With hundreds of couples arriving with their families and devotees thronging the temple for darshan, Guruvayur witnessed yet another Sunday where meticulous planning and collective efforts helped turn the overwhelming rush into a grand and orderly kalyanappooram (wedding festival).

Published – 30 Aug 2026 18:05 IST