Kapali Temple Vinayaka Chathurthi

Temples are shut for devotees due to lockdown restrictions but 100s of people are seen inside the Kapaleeswarar temple on Friday morning for a Wedding 

For two months devotees have been kept away from temples on Friday and over the weekend much to their disappointment. Having already undergone a torrid time over the previous 15months, the priests have suffered further at this closure of temples on three days every week. Almost all festival days too have been shut for devotees over the last few months.

In light of the above, the scenario at the Kapaleeswarar Temple this morning presented a shocking picture. Aircraft Consultant and avid photographer J Chandrasekhar, a mylaporean for life, shot these photographs just after 7am on Friday, the morning when there was to be an Abhisekam for Lord Vinayaka. He could not believe the scene as he watched and took photo shots from outside. The devotees remained firmly outside the temple while the people were celebrating a wedding inside.

Legally, as per the Government order, the temple is to be shut for devotees on Fridays,  Weekends and on Festive Occasions but there are no restrictions on temples allowing weddings to be conducted on any of these days. So from that stand point, the temple authorities stayed within the legal framework.

While the devotee in a Panchakacham was behind the barricaded gate at the Eastern Raja Gopuram, there were scores of people inside the temple as part of the Wedding Celebrations, this being a Muhurtham day. The crowd was so large that this devotee could not even have darshan from outside for they blocked the view.

The scores of people later went around for the wedding festivities. It is shocking that devotees are disallowed inside the temple on the occasion of Vinayaka Chathurthi but the temple allows people to celebrate Weddings inside the temple.

Several regular devotees of the temple had expressed disappointment to this writer on Thursday evening at not being allowed into the temple on Fridays and over the weekend and also at not being allowed inside the Sannidhis on any day of the week for several months now.

There is a Mooshika Vahana procession inside the temple later this evening but devotees will not be able to be part of that as well.

Weddings galore but devotees remain rooted to the Ponnambala Vadhyar Street