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Sabarimala temple opens today

Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala will be opened on Friday afternoon for the 20-day annual Makaravilakku festival.

Melsanthi M. Sukumaran Namboodiri will open the sanctum sanctorum at 5.30 p.m. on Friday and the rituals will begin with Ganapati homom on Saturday morning. Hundreds of devotees who reached Pampa without knowing the closure of the temple after the Mandala puja on December 26 have been camping on the foothills for the past three days. They will be allowed to trek the holy hills only on Friday in order to avoid overcrowding at the Sannidhanam.

Makarasankramom day, which coincides with the appearance of Makaravilakku, a celestial light, and the Makara star on the eastern horizon of the Sannidhanam, falls on January 14. The temple will be opened at 3 a.m. from December 31 to January 14 in view of the heavy rush during the Makaravilakku season. The Neyyabhishekom ritual will begin at 3.30 a.m., instead of 4.30 a.m. on these days.

The Pettathullal at Erumely will be held on January 11. The famous annual procession carrying `thiruvabharanam' from the Pandalam Palace to Sabarimala will set off from Valiyakoickal Sastha Temple in Pandalam on January 12 afternoon. evening, marking the culmination of the annual Makaravilakku pilgrimage.

The temple will be closed after the exclusive customary special darshan for the representative of the Pandalam Palace on January 20 morning.

The Pandalam Palace Managing Committee has welcomed the Kerala High Court directive banning special queues for holy darshan at the temple.

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