Ahead of merchant Anant Ambani-Radhika’s Jamnagar festivities, know why his Roka was celebrated at Shrinathji temple in Rajasthan

Gujarat’s Jamnagar is all set to host the pre-wedding festivities of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Foundation Founder and Chairman Nita Ambani’s youngest son Anant Ambani to industrialist Viren Merchant’s daughter Radhika Merchant, March 1-3.

Anant and Radhika got engaged in a traditional ‘Roka’ ceremony at Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara town in Rajsamand, Rajasthan in the presence of family and friends in 2022.

But do you know why this temple is important for the Ambani family? The temple is dedicated to Srinathji, the family deity.

A statement issued by the family said that the young couple, after the engagement, spent the day at the temple seeking Lord Shrinathji’s blessings for their marriage.

In October 2022, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited announced the launch of 5G services in Rajasthan from Shrinathji Temple. “It’s 5G for Sriji,” Vishal Baba, mahant of the Nathdwara temple, had said then.

Mukesh Ambani visited the temple in September and promised to launch 5G services in Rajasthan from the temple. Also in 2015, Mukesh Ambani visited the Shrinathji temple before the launch of 4G services.

According to the temple’s website, the idol of Shrinathji was brought to Rajasthan from Govardhana, near Vrindavan, in 1665.

“The idol undertook a journey to Mewar that took 32 months to complete. The decision to establish the Lord here in Nathdwara involves an interesting story. When the wheel of the chariot carrying the Lord got stuck in the mud at a place called Sihar, the Rana saw it as a divine sign that Lord Krishna wanted to settle here, and therefore a temple was built at this place and was built the holy township of Nathdwara grew up around the temple,” the website adds.

In 1672, Lord Shrinathji was placed in a new temple built in the village of Sihad, now called Nathdwara, on the banks of river Banas, it said.

PRE-WEDDING FESTIVITIES

VVIPs from all over the world are expected to attend the three-day function in Jamnagar. The guest list includes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Disney CEO Bob Iger, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the CEO of Adnoc, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, and the president of EL Rothschild, Lynn Forester de Rothschild.

Others include Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar; Murray Auchincloss, CEO of BP; Thomas Barrack, president and founder of Colony Capital; Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden; John Chambers, CEO of JC2 Ventures; John Elkann, CEO of Exor; Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor; Bill Ford, president and CEO of General Atlantic; Stephen Schwarzman, founder of Blackstone Group; Brian Thomas Moynihan, president of Bank of America; Carlos Slim, Investor; Jay Lee, CEO of Samsung Electronics; Raymond Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates; Zhang Lei, founder of Hillhouse Capital; Howard Marks, co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management; James Dinan, founder of York Capital Management; Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management; Michael Grimes, CEO of Morgan Stanley; Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada; Donald Harrison, president of Google; and Richard Hilton, president of Hilton & Hyland.

India’s VVIP guest list includes Kumar Mangalam Birla, Uday Kotak, Adar Poonawala, Sunil Mittal, spiritual leader Sadhguru, Sachin Tendulkar and his family, MS Dhoni and his family, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Amitabh Bachchan and his family, Rajnikanth and his family, Shah. Rukh Khan and his family, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif, and Madhuri Dixit.

Famous international artists, including Rihanna and magician David Blaine, will perform at the pre-wedding festivities. Top Indian musicians set to perform include Arijit Singh, Ajay-Atul and Diljit Dosanjh.