With hardly 36 hours left for the culmination of the annual pilgrim season, the holy hillock of Sabarimala continues to witness a heavy influx of pilgrims.
Thousands of devotees from different parts of south India undertook pilgrimage to the forest shrine on Tuesday.
The annual pilgrimage will come to a close with the Guruti ritual at Malikappuram on Wednesday evening.
Pilgrims had to wait inside thickly packed barricades even up to Marakoottom, 2 km away from the Sannidhanam, for hours together in the forenoon.
The unprecedented rush of devotees was owing to the culmination of the auspicious Neyyabhishekom ritual at the Ayyappa shrine during the Makaravilakku festival prior to the Utcha puja on Tuesday.
The Neyyabhishekom offering to the presiding deity came to a close by 11 a.m. Tantri Kandararu Maheswararu Mohanararu, assisted by Melsanthi E.S. Sankaran Namboodiri, performed the Kalabaha puja at Namaskara Mandapam by 11.45 a.m.
The Brahmakalasom carrying the sandal paste (kalabhom) for the Kalabhabhishekom was taken out in a ceremonial procession.
Guruti ritual
The two-month-long annual pilgrimage to Sabarimala will conclude with the Guruti ritual at Malikappuram on Wednesday evening. The Thuiruvabharanam (sacred jewellery) will be taken back to the Pandalam Palace in a ceremonial procession on Thursday morning itself.
