Delhi hosts 36,000 weddings in a day

Indians primarily rely on Vedic astrology -- which dates back to ancient Hindu texts -- to fix the dates and times for weddings or when buying a car or home.

Auspicious days are calculated by pandits, or priests, after elaborate mathematical calculations.

"Until December 8 the position of the sun was not appropriate for marriage," said Dr Prem Kumar Sharma, a noted astrologer. "Today is a Sunday, which symbolizes the goodness of the Sun personified, and Jupiter and Venus are also aligned perfectly."

Police in New Delhi said they would pull out all the stops to keep the city moving.

"We are expecting a huge number of people to go for the weddings today but we are sure that we will tackle the situation," said Qamar Ahmed, joint commissioner of police in the sprawling city of 14 million people.