Thrissur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famed Lord Krishna temple at Guruvayur, Thrissur, on Saturday morning, during his first visit to Kerala after the massive electoral win.
He also performed the thulabharam ritual for which the temple authorities had reportedly arranged over 100 kg of lotus flowers.
The ritual is an important offering to Lord Krishna wherein a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles and the equal value or quantity is offered as donation.
The prime minister spent around 20 minutes inside the temple before returning to the nearby temple guest house by foot.
Wearing a traditional Kerala dhoti and white shawl, Modi was received at the temple gate by the authorities with a traditional poornakumbh.
He was accompanied by Kerala Governor P Sathasivam, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran.
Modi took a three-minute walk to the temple from the nearby Sreevatsam guest house.
Security had been tightened in and around the temple since Friday in view of his visit.
Earlier, the prime minister reached here in a special naval helicopter from the Kochi naval airport at 9:50am.
Modi is scheduled to address an 'Abhinandan Sabha'-- a party meeting being organised by the state unit of the BJP at the Sri Krishna High School Ground at Guruvayur.
This will be Modi's first public meeting after assuming office as the prime minister for a second consecutive term.
He arrived in Kochi late Friday night and was received at the naval airport by Sathasivam, Muraleedharan and Surendran. He stayed at the government guest house in Kochi.
Modi is the fourth Indian PM to pay obeisance to Lord Krishna, the deity of Guruvayur temple.
Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao had visited the temple when they were in power. They were invariably accompanied by Congress leader late K Karunakaran.
Presidents R Venkataraman, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma and K R Narayan too have worshipped here. The incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind has also visited the famous Krishna temple.
The leaders offer flowers (pushpanjali) and special plantain as well as conduct thulabharam at the temple.
Modi had visited the temple in 2008 soon after he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second time. Modi's visit assumes political significance in the wake of the BJP drawing a blank in the recently held Lok Sabha polls in Kerala despite the party storming back to power with a thumping majority.
Modi, along with BJP president Amit Shah, had extensively campaigned in Kerala in the run-up to the polls in which BJP held high hopes of opening account.
Modi's visit is likely to boost the party machinery ahead of the impending Assembly bypolls in the state.
Modi's visit would take place a day after Congress president Rahul's Gandhi's visit to Wayanad constituency which he represents in Lok Sabha.
Modi will leave for the Maldives from Kochi.
On Sunday, the Indian PM will visit Sri Lanka where he is set to hold talks with President Maithripala Sirisena.
"The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to arrive in Colombo on Sunday for a visit limited to a few hours. The re-elected Indian leader will be on transit from the Maldives," president Sirisena's office said.
(With inputs from PTI)