The Lord’s wedding in city on Jan 28, 29 Tirupati Balaji priests are travelling in state, holding Kalyanotsav

The Lord’s wedding in city on Jan 28, 29

Tirupati Balaji priests are travelling in state, holding Kalyanotsav

Devotees of Tirupati Balaji will be able to witness the celestial wedding of the lord in Mumbai next weekend at the Bandra-Kurla Complex. They will also get the famous Ladoo prasad offered at the temple. The Kalyanotsav or the wedding ceremony of the lord with his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi is a daily ritual at the Tirumala Tirupati shrine in Andhra Pradesh. But the ceremony has been recently travelling to places outside Tirupati. Idols from the Tirupati temple accompanied by priests from the shrine are now travelling in Maharashtra to celebrate Kalyanotsav in different cities. On January 20, the ritual was celebrated in Satara; today (Jan 21), the 100th Kalyanotsav outside Tirupati will be held at Kolhapur. In Mumbai, the event will be held on January 28 and 29; the idols will be in Kalyan on January 26 for the ritual. Navi Mumbai will host the function on January 30. Devotees of Balaji believe that places which have a temple dedicated to the deity are protected from natural and man-made disasters. “We believe that he wards off evil. He protects people from the evil forces of Kalyug,” said Samir Mehta, member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Mumbai Advisory Committee, which is organising the Kalyanotsav series in Maharastra. A facility in Pune is preparing around 10 lakh ladoos that will be taken to all the venues of the Kalyanotsav. The Tirupati trust recently inaugurated a centre in Sion where devotees can book travel, puja and accommodation at the temple town. There are also plans to set up a Balaji temple in Mumbai.