The two-month-long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season at Sabarimala came to a close with the ritualistic Guruti at the Malikappuram on Thursday.
The Ayyappa temple continued to witness heavy rush on Thursday too as hundreds of devotees from different parts of south India undertook pilgrimage to the forest shrine on the last day of the Makaravilakku festival season.
Padipuja, Udayasthamanpuja, Ashtabhishekom, and Pushpabhishekom were the important rituals performed at the Sannidhanam on Thursday.
Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu, assisted by Melsanthi T.M. Unnikrishnan Namboodiri, performed the Padipuja at the holy 18 steps after Pushpabhishekom in the evening.
The Ayyappa temple was closed with the Melsanthi singing the sacred lullaby, ‘Harivarasanam, viswamohanam ….’
Guruti ritual
The Guruti ritual to propitiate the ‘bhoothagana’ (cohorts) of Lord Ayyappa was performed at the Malikappuram later in the evening. The representative of the Pandalam Palace, Sasikumar Varma, supervised the ritual. The Melsanthi will open the Ayyappa temple for a few minutes at 6.15 a.m. on Friday to facilitate the customary holy darshan exclusively for the royal representative before his return journey to Pandalam. The temple will be closed by 6.30 a.m. The Thiruvabharanam will be taken back to the Pandalam Palace on January 23 morning.
