The scramble for booking the marriage halls is because 2013 has an unusually long inauspicious period in comparison to the other years. The Moodham or inauspicious days occur twice a year, the Shukra Moodham occurring between February and April and the Guru Moodham between June and July.
Seshagiri Rao is a happy father, not only because his daughter is getting married, but also because he has managed to book a wedding hall for the auspicious event in August this year. In the coming days and months, Seshagiri Rao may count himself among the lucky parents as wedding halls across the state are either full or already booked.
“Normally, the inauspicious days occur for a maximum of 15 days in each spell. However, this year, Moodham will be there for an unusually long period of about 100 days. The Shukra Moodham occurred between February 22 to May 2 (70 days) and the Guru Moodham is to take place between June 5 and July 4 (30 days),” said K Tejeswi, a city-based almanac pundit. In 2012, Shukra Moodham occurred between March 11 to 28 and the Guru Moodham from June 15 to July 7, a total of less than 50 days, which itself was long by normal standards.
It is the long inauspicious period that has shortened the wedding days this year. In Andhra Pradesh, the marriage season occurs during February, May, June, August, October and November, with February and August being the most sought after. This year, with the entire month of June lost because of the Guru Moodham, there is heavy rush for marriage halls bookings in August.
“Our venue is already booked for August and we have a minimum of 20 weddings during that month. After August, we have a couple of dates left in November,”Ram Kumar, manager of Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams (TTD) marriage hall in Himayatnagar, told INN.
Seshagiri Rao, a retired government employee, has managed to book a function hall in Uppal, but had to cough up a heavy advance of Rs one lakh, which is more than the normal fee. “It took me many days of hunting to find a function hall for the date prescribed by the pundit and I had no choice but to pay the hefty advance as I might not get even this hall a little later,” said Seshagiri Rao.
“We are being flooded with bookings, and to ensure that we do not lose out in the end, we were forced to hike the advance amount, said Kopanna Vinay Bhaskar, Manager of SV Function hall in Uppal. Similar are the bookings in five star hotels and various convention halls where the rich and mighty choose for marriage rituals these days.
Pundits too are in heavy demand already. I have at least 30 weddings to perform in August,” said pundit Jonnavittula Swami.
Apart from weddings, house warming ceremonies too are normally performed only during the auspicious days. With the Shukra Moodham ending on May 2, pundits have been in demand for both weddings and house warming ceremonies. “With the second inauspicious period set to begin on June 5, my colleagues are much in demand for both weddings and house warming ceremonies,” said G Sadasiva Sharma, citybased astrologer.
Long inauspicious period has shortened auspicious wedding days by almost this year
Heavy rush for marriage halls bookings in August Function halls have hiked their advance amount up to 1 lakh due to heavy demand Heavy demand for pundits due to weddings and house warmings. #KhabarLive