Meenakshi temple Kumbhabhishekam on Sept 17

Madurai: A high-level meeting chaired by minister for Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR&CE), P K Sekarbabu on Saturday decided to hold the consecration ceremony (Kumbhabhishekam) of the Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple on September 17.The ceremony will take place between 7.45am and 8.10am on a Thursday. The decision came after extensive restoration efforts totalling 32.28 crore, alongside a dedicated 35.30 crore project to reconstruct the Veera Vasantharayar Mandapam, which was severely damaged by a fire in 2018. Structural renovations are expected to be completed by the end of March, a statement said.During the meeting, experts and stakeholders, including the temple's board of trustees, sthanika bhattars, and agama specialist Raja Bhattar, evaluated the progress of the civil work.Scheduling the consecration ceremony required careful alignment with the temple's dense annual festival calendar and auspicious astrological timings.Additional chief secretary, tourism and culture, K Manivasan, HR&CE department commissioner P N Sridhar, and temple joint commissioner N Suresh, alongside engineers and sthapathi, were present during the meeting.With the date now fixed, the temple administration is expected to ramp up the final stages of the restoration to accommodate thousands of devotees who are expected to converge on the temple city for the event.