Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

Rush continues at Sabarimala

Waiting for darshan: Pilgrims being blocked by the police at Marakkoottom on the Pampa-Sannidhanam on Friday.

PATHANAMTHITTA: The post-Makaravilakku days have been witnessing heavy rush of pilgrims at Sabarimala. The police were forced to block the pilgrims at Marakkoottom on the trekking path on Thursday night and Friday forenoon to avoid congestion at the Sannidhanam.

Scarcity of drinking water, coupled with shortage of police force for proper crowd management, put the pilgrims to many hardships.

The Travancore Devaswom Board stopped supply of medicated drinking water on the trekking path as a majority of the workers employed on daily wages were reportedly withdrawn from duty on Thursday. The drinking water supply by the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom volunteers was the only solace to the pilgrims at the Sannidhanam.

There were reports of traders fleecing pilgrims; a glass of lime juice cost Rs.10 on the trekking path on Friday.

A major chunk of the police force had left the holy hillock, after presenting a praiseworthy crowd management on the Makaravilakku day on January 14, without anticipating such a heavy pilgrim influx in the post-festival period.

The Tamil workers attached to the Sabarimala Sanitation Society joined the police personnel in controlling the crowd at the Sannidhanam.

Pilgrims had to wait for hours together to have holy darshan on Friday.

There were also reports of shortage of Devaswom guards to control the crowd even at the temple Sopanam.

Many pilgrims complained of not having darshan even after long wait in the queue owing to inept crowd management on the temple premises on Friday.

The traffic bottlenecks on the Pampa-Nilackal stretch of the main trunk road to Sabarimala added to the woes of the pilgrims.

The auspicious Kalabhabhishekom ritual, marking the culmination of Neyyabhishekom to the presiding deity, was performed at the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala on Friday.

The ritual began with the Tantri, Kandararu Maheswararu, performing the Kalabhapuja at the Namaskara Mantapam in the forenoon. The ‘kalabhom’ (sandal paste) was taken out in a procession to the sanctum sanctorum for the ritual with the accompaniments of the sacred Marappani.

The Kalabhom offered to the deity was distributed as ‘prasadam’ among the devotees.

The customary ceremonial procession, with the accompaniment of a caparisoned elephant and traditional temple percussion, was also held from Malikappuram to Sramkuthi in the evening.

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