The forest tracts of Sabarimala that constitute the southern-most part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve spring to life in mid-November when scores of Ayyappa devotees from different parts of the country congregate there for their annual pilgrimage to South India’s most popular shrine dedicated to Lord Ayyappa.
Devotees in their thousands trek the steep terrains of the sacred grove of Lord Ayyappa chanting the mantra `Swamiyei Saranam Ayyappa’, meaning `Lord Ayyappa, I come to thee for refuge’, as a shield against all the obstacles they have to face in their spiritual pursuit in life. However, that mantra is of little help in the face of the innumerable hardships they must face before they reach the Lord’s abode in the absence of a fool-proof pilgrim management system and the absence of coordination among various stakeholders, especially during the rush days.
Sabarimala has been undergoing a frenetic transformation over the years.
The serene, cool, verdant woods that greeted the devotees decades ago is now a veritable concrete jungle.
Concrete structures have been popping up in the forestland at a fast pace.
The sudden rush of devotees during the end months of every year, culminating in the Makaravilakku festival in January, takes a heavy toll on the carrying capacity of the fragile terrain. The absence of a competent administrative mechanism that could effectively attend to the basic needs of the pilgrims coming from different parts of the country and abroad can, therefore, only add to the woes of the pilgrims.
Multiple agencies
There are three different institutions that control the temple precincts and the surrounding facilities: the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which is the State-sponsored temple administration body, the State government, and the Forest Department. Very often, they work at cross purposes, denying even the very basic amenities to the pilgrims, who come from all parts of South India, especially Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Their needs are limited: supply of pure drinking water, a system for hassle-free darshan. On both counts, the actions of the authorities have left much to be desired.
Since the rush to Sabrimala is the heaviest during the two-month Mandalam - Makaravilakku season, the Devaswom board and the State government go easy during the rest of the time and this has prompted the Kerala High Court to issue directives time and again to streamline the functioning of various agencies at the pilgrim centre. The Devaswom board has seldom displayed the commitment required to address the needs and woes of the pilgrims who number, according to the Board, five crore every year. During the rush days of the Makaravilakku festival, hundreds of devotees can be found sleeping on the hard ground all along the forest path at night, something that had found mention in the report of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament that had visited Sabarimala on the eve of the Makaravilaku in 2004: “People of all ages were found curled up, pressing against each other, and sleeping on the hard ground at the holy hillock of the Sabarimala Sannidhanam”.
Crowd management is the biggest challenge at Sabarimala and the problem is aggravated by what is widely seen as lack of coordination between the Devaswom Board and the State police, especially in streamlining the pilgrim flow through the six queue complexes constructed on the Pampa-Sannidhanam path. There have been suggestions galore, including that for securing the services of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), but that looks easier said than done.
Pollution of Pampa
A matter of worry as seen from a wider perspective is the way the sudden and heavy rush of pilgrims pollutes River Pampa. Two sewage plants have been constructed at Pampa and Sabarimala to address the flow of human waste into the river, but this has still not proved a complete success. On top of this is the insensitive behaviour of the pilgrims arriving from various States. Some are so reckless that they even ease out near the in-take points of drinking water schemes in the river Pampa polluting the river. Since the pilgrims spend only a few hours at the hillock of the Sannidhanam and at Pampa in the foothills during their pilgrimage, they will be satisfied with simple lodging facilities with a clean and hygienic sanitation system.
In its report, the PAC had stated: “The committee is horrified at the inhuman conditions in which the pilgrims stay at the Sannidhanam. Total lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, hygienic food, toilet facilities, etc., in a place where two to three crore pilgrims visit within a short span of two months cannot be explained away by saying that the concept of `comfort’ is alien to the ethos of Sabarimala pilgrimage. This is an extraordinary situation. It is true that the pilgrims do endure all kinds of hardships. They are driven by a deep devotion which makes them brave all kinds of adversities. But it is clearly impermissible for responsible authorities to use it as a convenient pretext for inaction and leave the pilgrims to fend for themselves.” Most of the PAC’s observations hold good even today.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam of Andhra Pradesh is a pilgrim centre comparable to Sabarimala. Tirumala Devasthanam too is located in reserve forests, but there is absolutely no hindrance to the ever-increasing development activities there and this has resulted in creation of enviable facilities for the thousands of devotees there. The PAC report also moots provision of facilities at Sabarimala on the lines of the Vaishnodevi temple in Jammu and other major pilgrim centres in the country. A committee consisting of the Union Minister for Environment and Forests and the State Ministers of Devaswom and Forests should be constituted at the apex level to give necessary impetus to the process of Sabarimala development and Sabarimala should be delinked from the PTR to facilitate development of the pilgrim centre in a totally eco-friendly manner, it had recommended.
Drinking water
Though there is adequate facility to store 250 lakh litres of water in giant storage tanks constructed at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam, the Devaswom Board is yet to ensure easy availability of safe drinking water at the pilgrim centre, especially in the wake of the ban on PET bottles at Sabarimala. The TDB has been supplying medicated drinking water through 20 counters at Sabarimala and along the trekking path during the annual pilgrim season. The Kerala Water Authority has installed drinking water kiosks in different parts of the pilgrim centre. But, all this turn out to be completely inadequate to meet the huge demand of the pilgrims during the peak days.
The uniqueness of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple lies in the fact that it is open to people of all faiths. There is a shrine dedicated to Vavar, a Muslim saint. The religious harmony at Sabarimala is, perhaps, the answer to many a vexed question in the present-day social milieu. It is a fact that the massive inflow of pilgrims has created serious problems of spatial and logistical management resulting in unimaginable miseries to the devotees.
A unified and long-term action plan, considering the pilgrims and the environment with equal importance, has to be formulated, if the devotees coming from far away places are to return contented.
