Thousands of pilgrims camping at Sabarimala

2. (14tvpt-crowd) A crowd scene at the Lower Tirumuttom of the Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala on Friday afternoon. – PHOTO: LEJU KAMAL

The sacred grove of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala is all set for the Makaravilakku festival to be celebrated on Saturday.

Ayyappa devotees are camping at the Sannidhanam and on the surrounding hills to worship the Makaravilakku deeparadhana to be performed at Ponnambalamedu. Almost all vantage points at the holy hillock have been occupied by the devotees.

Pilgrims have been camping at makeshift tents at Paandithavalom, Appachimedu, Marakkoottom, Urakkuzhy, Malikappuram temple, copra drying yard, and near the Forest Department office at the Sannidhanam for the past two days. Many even prepare food in the surroundings of the tents, disregarding the ban on cooking in the forests.

Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu, assisted by Melsanthi T.M. Unnikrishnan Namboodiri, performed the Bimbasudhikriya ritual on Friday as a prelude to the Makarasankrama puja to be performed at the Ayyappa temple at 7.40 a.m. on Saturday. The Neyyabhishekom offering, Sankramabhishekom as is called, to the presiding deity will be performed with the ghee brought from Kowdiar Palace in Thiruvananthapuram.

The celestial star Makarajyoti will be sighted in the eastern horizon of the Sannidhanam on the Makaravilakku day. The Thiruvabharanam, sacred jewellery, will be brought to the Sannidhanam in a ceremonial procession from Pandalam by 6.20 p.m. on Saturday. The presiding deity will be adorned with the Thiruvabharanam prior to the deeparadhana.

At Ponnambalamedu

The deeparadhana at Ponnambalamedu, a remote hill in the shola forests facing the Sannidhanam, will be performed immediately after the deeparadhana at the Ayyappa temple at 6.30 p.m. on Saturday.

Travancore Devaswom Board president Prayar Gopalakrishnan told The Hindu that a senior priest would be performing the deeparadhana at Ponnambalamedu.