Guruvayoor Puja Booked Until 2046

Source

KERALA, INDIA, December 5, 2004 : At the well-known Guruvayoor temple in Kerala, devotees wanting to perform the costliest puja, or religious service, will have to wait until 2046. Such is the demand for the special US$1,100 Udayasthamana Puja, which is performed only 130 days in a year at the Sree Krishna temple, that the faithful have paid booking amounts for the next 42 years. Indeed, the temple, near Trissur, sees hundreds of devotees queuing up from midnight for a glimpse of the Deity when the doors to the sanctum sanctorum open at 3.30 a.m. Temple official Vijayan Nambiar told the press that the number of devotees visiting the shrine on auspicious days had crossed the 100,000-mark. The crowds are ballooning rapidly and it has reached a stage where it has become difficult to manage the throngs.