Thousands witness Makaravilakku

The twilight delight flickered thrice atop the Ponnamabalamedu, moving the devotees to ecstasy.

Devotees worshipping the Makaravilakku deeparadhana performed at Ponnambalamedu, a remote hill facing Sabarimala, from the Ayyappa temple premises at the Sannidhanam on Friday.

Thousands of Ayyappa devotees worshipped the Makarajyoti and the Makaravilakku deeparadhana performed at Ponnambalamedu, a remote hill facing the Sabarimala Sannidhanam, on Makarasankranti day at Sabarimala on Friday.

A large number of people camped at the holy hillock and surrounding hills, awaiting the twilight delight. Rooftops of various buildings as well as the hillsides facing the east and the grasslands in the Sabarimala forests had been occupied by the devotees for the past two days.

Temple Tantri and Melsanthi performed Makarasankrama puja at 1.27 a.m. on Friday. The ghee brought from the Kowdiar Palace in Thiruvananthapuram was offered to the presiding deity as part of the puja.

The procession carrying Thiruvabharanam, golden attire, reached the holy hillock around 6.30 p.m. Travancore Devaswom Board president Prayar Gopalakrishnan accompanied the procession that set off from Pandalam on Wednesday afternoon.

The Ayyappa idol was decorated with the golden attire. The entire Sannidhanam was in a pensive mood for the next few minutes before the opening of the sanctum sanctorum for deeparadhana.

Divine frenzy

The Makaravilakku deeparadhana was performed atop the Ponnambalamedu hill by 6.42 p.m. and the bright flame flickered thrice atop the Ponnamabalamedu, taking the sacred grove to a divine frenzy.

A large number of pilgrims had assembled at Pullumedu, Panchalimedu, Parunthumpara, and Attathode from where they could worship the Makaravilakku deepar- adhana. There was a heavy rush of devotees descending the holy hillock immediately after the deeparadhana.