Erumely, the main base camp of Sabarimala, is all set to host the ceremonial ‘Petta thullal’ by the Ambalappuzha and Alangad teams on Friday, preceded by the Chandanakkudam celebrations at the Nainar mosque on Thursday.
The Chandanakudam celebrations, organised by the Erumely Mahallu Muslim Jamaat, will start with a procession from the Nainar mosque by 7.30 p.m.
The procession will be accorded receptions at various points and conclude at the mosque by 3 a.m. on Friday.
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar will inaugurate the Chandanakudam event at a public meeting on Thursday evening. P.H. Shahjahan, president of the Jammat, will preside.
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A. Padmakumar, District Collector P.K. Sudheer Babu, and Anto Antony, MP, will take part.
Annual event
The Chandanakudam is celebrated every year to relive the unique bonhomie between Lord Ayyappa and his trusted Muslim lieutenant Vavar and the tradition of communal harmony in the area.
The festivities on Friday will begin with teams from Ambalappuzha and Alangad, which represent the maternal and paternal lineages of Lord Ayyapppa, performing the dance.
The thullal by the Ambalappuzha team, led by ‘Samooha periyon’ Kalathil Chandrasekharan Nair, is slated to begin from the Kochambalam here after the sighting of the Brahmini kite (Krishna Parunthu) in the skies at 11 a.m.
The Alangad team, to be led by Guruswamy A.K. Vijayakumar, will start their dance by afternoon after sighting the ‘star’ in the day skies.
