The Sabarimala Sannidhanam continued to witness heavy rush on Sunday as hundreds of Ayyappa devotees from different parts of the country undertook their annual pilgrimage to the forest shrine even after the Makaravilakku ceremony on January 15.
The pilgrims had to wait inside the thickly packed barricades leading to the Lower Tirumuttom of the Ayyappa temple for hours together to reach the temple Sopanam on Sunday.
The Travancore Devaswom Board and the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom volunteers have supplied medicated drinking water and biscuits to the weary pilgrims waiting inside the barricades.
The Alangad Yogam group of pilgrims reached the Sannidhanam after performing the Petta Thullal at Erumely on January 12 have offered their annual Panthirunazhy Nivedyom and other offerings to the presiding deity on Sunday.
The Tantri (chief priest), Kandararu Maheswararu Mohanararu, performed the rituals. The Nivedyom was prepared with the rice, jaggery, spices, coconuts, cashew nuts and dried grapes brought by the Alangad Yogam in six large vessels as well as their Irumudikkettu.
The Tantri also performed the auspicious Neyyabhishekom with the ghee offered to the deity by the Alangad group. The auspicious Kalabhabhishekom was performed at the Ayyappa temple prior to the Utchapuja. Padipuja and Pushpabhishekom were the other important rituals performed at the temple on Sunday.
The Neyyabhishekom offering will come to a close with the Kalabhabhishekom on Tuesday. The Guruti ritual to propitiate the Bhoothagana (cohorts) of Lord Ayyappa will be performed at Malikappuram on Wednesday and the Ayyappa temple will be closed on Thursday morning, marking the culmination of the annual pilgrim season.
2 pilgrims die
of heart atack
Two pilgrims died of heart attack at Sabarimala on Sunday. The deceased have been identified as G. Rajashekharan, 52, from Trichy in Tamil Nadu, and E. Venitaramadu, 57, from Ananthapur in Andhra Pradesh.
