Guruvayur Temple Crowd
This temple is experiencing a heavy crowd in all seasons. There is very good queueing system is established by the devasom staffs and kerala police. Guruvayur temples main deity Krishna's idol is believed to have been installed by Lord Guru (teacher) and Lord Vayu (Air). This shrine is as important like Mathura or Dwaraka. The temple has a very rich history, and lot of culture attached to it. If you go on weekdays to avoid the massive crowd on weekends. The sultry north Kerala weather doesn't make standing in the queues any easier. Also, there are quite a few hotels and guest houses - right outside the temple.The devasom staffs and kerala police established several managment systems likes:- 1. Well managed queues 2. Disciplined folks in the queue 3. Well organized movement of the queue 4. Temple premises has been kept very clean 5. Even inside the temple there is no pushing and rush In order to avoid rush, reach there evening of a working day. Avoided morning rush, frequent ceremony related stops in the morning, wedding crowd etc.... The people can finished the darshan within 20 minutes, better to avoid weekends, Thursdays in general. Sabarimala season (Nov, Dec, Jan). The delight was the Seeveli of five elephants along with Laksha deepam. The whole walls of the sanctum has traditional oil lamps, which are lit. The caparisoned elephants with Venchamaram (white fan) and Mayipeli ( fan made with peacock feather) went around the temple 3 times. Nadaswaram, Melam amd Panchavadhyam made the moment mesmerizing.This happens literally every night from 8.30-10.30pm. It is a delight for the young and the old. In the morning it was great site to see Thulabaram- gifting God various items like Banana, Rice, Jaggery, Ghee of our equivalent body weight and Annaprasannam- first rice feeding for children. Around 11am the famous Milk Payasam of Shree Krishna's neyvaidhyam is available for purchase. If time permits do visit the nearby Shiva temple (Mammiyur). Old story goes like this, when Guru and Vayu decided on the location of this Shree Krishna temple and came here they saw Lord Shiva already housed there. They requested him if he could move slightly and give space for Krishna temple, which he obliged. Hence It is generally believed that one must visit Shiva before Krishna ! This temple is more strict on attire than Guruvayur ! Ladies with Salwar are not allowed. Only Saree of traditional Kerala Mundu ! Early morning is best time to have darshan. The temple opens at 3:00 AM and we went like 3;30 and darshan is over in 30-40 mins even though there is huge crowd due to sabarimala season.
