Chithirai festival begins with holy flag-hoisting at Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple

The annual Chithirai festival commenced with the holy flag-hoisting at Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple here on Tuesday.
Priests performed special pujas and deeparadhan for the deities.
Musical instruments were played at the temple bedecked with colourful lights. The lights and colourful paintings at the temple transformed the entire shrine into the festival mode.
Collector M.S. Sangeetha, Mayor V. Indrani Ponvasanth, Corporation Commissioner Chitra Vijayan, Commissioner of Police J. Loganathan, temple Fit Person Rukmini Palanivel Rajan and devotees were present at the event.
Security was beefed up as police officers checked the bag storage area and mobile phone lockers. Mobile phones were not allowed inside the temple complex following the ruling by Madurai Bench of Madras High Court after a fire at the temple's eastern wing.
The procession of deities on Chithirai Streets took place in the evening. The temple administration began booking tickets for the celestial wedding both online and at Birla Vishram near the temple.
As photographers and videographers were not allowed for the coverage of the flag-hoisting event, a senior temple official said that to avoid disturbance to VIPs and top officials, the media persons were denied entry for the event.

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