The Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON, TEXAS, March 27, 2004: The Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, Texas, recently celebrated a four-day festival where the main deities were removed from the sanctums so that the temple could be cleansed, reconsecrated and repaired. Normally the event called Maha Kumbhabhisekham takes place every 12 years. Housing three main icons, Meenakshi, Siva and Vishnu, the temple leaders decided to have the ceremony two years earlier as upkeep was needed on the temple. A regularly scheduled Kumbhabhisekham will also take place in 2006. Ranjana Narasiman, a member of the temple’s board of directors, says, “We see divinity in those Deities, therefore we treat them with utmost love and care. That is why we do the reconsecration. Your thoughts are very clear and you enjoy the sweetness of life during this time.”