Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple kumbabishekam LIVE: Devotees gather in large numbers
The priests are expected to perform the ceremony at the scheduled time between 7.40 a.m. and 8.10 a.m.
On September 17, 2026, the Kumbabishekam consecration ceremony of the Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai commenced. The entire temple complex was illuminated with lights as senior priests, drawn from different temples, carried holy water to the gopurams decorated with flowers. The priests were scheduled to perform the ceremony between 7:40 a.m. and 8:10 a.m. To manage the large crowds, a filtering system based on pass colors—red, yellow, purple, and green—was implemented.
Devotees could enter the temple from the west and south towers and exit through the east tower. Food for about 50,000 devotees was prepared for serving from 7 a.m. until the afternoon at Sethupathi school, North Veli Street in Madurai. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay hailed the temple as a testament to the Tamil people's spirituality, art, culture, architecture, and sculpture.
Minister for Electricity, Non-Conventional Energy Development C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar inspected arrangements for devotee facilitation, while Minister for Higher Education P. Vishwanathan interacted with temple officials. Hundreds of devotees pushed past barricades near the West Gopuram, prompting police to control the crowd.
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