Explained: Why did Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant choose a temple for their engagement?

Nita and Mukesh Ambani's youngest son recently got engaged to his long time girlfriend Radhika Merchant in a traditional style at Shrinathji Temple in Rajasthan. The family fed the tribal in the area before the feast began and later, when back in Mumbai, threw a party for their Bollywood friends and family members.

Even though the idea of a temple wedding or an engagement ceremony sounds like a low-key event, traditionally, holding the sacred ceremony at a sacred place has a religious and spiritual significance. While Sikh and Christian marriage ceremonies are held at Gurudwaras and Churches, respectively, Hindu marriages are often held in marriage halls.

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Temples as wedding venues

Not only does a temple wedding wedding mean a sober celebration of the union but also serves a spiritual purpose. A number of temples in India are famous as wedding venues.

The Triyuginarayan Mandir in Uttarakhand is where Shiva and Parvati's wedding is said to have taken place one lakh years ago. The venue, thus serves as an ideal wedding destination. As for Delhi's Birla Mandir or Lakshmi Narayan mandir, it is the only temple after Arya Samaj in Delhi that hosts weddings. In Kerala's Guruvayur temple, wedding ceremonies are conducted in before Lord Krishna after one purchases a ticket. After the 10-minute ceremony, one can apply for marriage certificates from the Guruvayur Municipality at a minimal fee.

Karnataka's Bhoganandishwara Temple too is an attractive venue for traditional weddings. Powai's Chinmaya too provides a peaceful and calm environment for a wedding to take place.

Anant-Radhika's engagement in a temple is not the first one. Back in 1996, Sridevi and Boney Kapoor had tied the knot in a temple. Vatsal Sheth-Ishita Dutta and Esha Deol-Bharat Takhtani too chose the ISKCON temple for their wedding while Divya Khosla Kumar and Bhushan Kumar had got married in Jammu's Vaishno Devi temple.

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