Mata’s birthday fete begins today

KOLLAM: Around two lakh devotees from across the globe are expected to participate in the 56th birthday celebrations of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, which will be held on the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham campus here.

The celebrations will commence with the distribution of ‘Vidyamritam’ education scholarship at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Governor R S Gavai, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi and actor Mohanlal will participate in the function as chief guests.

The Vidyamritam scholarship scheme will be extended to 2,000 more children from the families of those who died at an early age owing to AIDS-related and other diseases.

25,000 children belonging to the families of farmers who committed suicide are now beneficiaries of this scholarship.

On September 27, programmes will begin with the padapooja of Amma followed by satsang and darshan. In the mass marriage programme organised as part of the celebrations, 54 young couples from poor families will tie the nuptial knot.

As many as 58 youth will take pledge against the consumption of alcohol and narcotics.

The Amritakeerti Puraskaram will be presented to Prof K V Dev and the release of new books published by the Math will also be held at the function.

Elaborate arrangements have been made to make the birthday celebrations a grand event. A pandal of two-lakh sq.feet has been erected at the sprawling maidan of the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

This is the third consecutive year that the celebrations are being held on the Vidyapeetham campus.

Hundreds of lights, fans and closed circuit TV sets have been installed in the pandal. Flex-boards and welcome arches have been erected on both sides of the National Highway and the roads leading to Amritapuri.

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