A senior official from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department (HR and CE) said the Panguni festival that precedes Chithirai festival would not have any public participation, The Hindu has reported.

Every year, lakhs of people come from different parts of the State during the Chithirai festival to view the celestial wedding at Meenakshi temple and the entry of Lord Kallazhagar into Vaigai river. This year, the flag hoisting for the festival will take place on April 25, celestial wedding on May 4 and Lord Kallazhagar’s entry on May 7.

“Because of COVID-19, the celestial wedding, a part of the Panguni festival, at Alagarkoil will take place on April 6 without public participation. Only the priests will be present to perform the puja with minimum strength. Decisions regarding the Chithirai festival and its preparation need to be made by April 15 as villagers tie ‘kaapu’ and start fasting ahead of the festival,” said Deputy Commissioner (in charge) T. Anitha.

One month before the start of the festival, workers start sprucing up the temple, clean the temple car and make arrangements for erecting pandals and procuring turmeric, kungumam and ‘thaali’ threads.

Joint Commissioner of Meenakshi Temple N. Natarajan said the temple was being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
“We are also taking care of the temple cows and the elephant. Regular pujas are being held with minimum staff. Since workers are not available and anyway they must come from their villages, we are not going ahead with any pending work. We are following the State government orders,” he said.

Collector T. G. Vinay said the decision regarding the conduct of the festival has been put on hold for the moment.
“Since it is a large congregation of the public, we need to consult with all the stakeholders and come up with a decision,” he said.

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