Southern States - Kerala   

Sabarimala temple opens

SABARIMALA Nov. 16. Thousands of devotees from different parts of South thronged the holy hillock of Sabarimala today when the Lord Ayyappa Temple opened for the 41-day Mandalam season this afternoon.

The devotees queued up from Saramkuthi, one-and-a-half kilometres away from the Ayyappa Sannidhanam, for `darshan'. A large number of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karanataka had been camping at the Sannidhanam for the past two days.

The outgoing Melsanthi, Perikamana Sankaranarayanan Nampoothiri opened the sanctum sanctorum at 5 p.m. amidst loud chants of the `Ayyappa Sarana Mantra'.

The new Sabarimala Melsanthi, Gosala Vishnu Vasudevan, was the first to ascend the Holy Eighteen Steps with the sacred bundle on his head, immediately after Mr. Nampoothiri lighted the sacred fireplace at the Lower Thirumuttom of the temple with the fire brought from the sanctum sanctorum.

The devotees burst into a divine frenzy when the `Pathinettampadi' was thrown open. They ascended the gold-plated steps and the flyover around the sanctum sanctorum was soon flooded with devotees.

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