With hardly 36 hours left for the culmination of the annual pilgrim season, Sabarimala continued to witness a heavy influx of pilgrims as devotees from different parts of south India undertook pilgrimage to the temple on Friday too.
According to police sources, 71,650 pilgrims reached Sabarimala by 11 p.m. on Thursday, the largest pilgrim turnout in a day during the ongoing Makaravilakku pilgrim season.
The digital head count at the check-post showed that 47,760 pilgrims entered the trekking path leading to Sabarimala Sannidhanam by 4 p.m. on Friday, sources said.
Hours-long wait
Pilgrims had to wait for a few hours inside the thickly packed barricades up to Saramkuthi, 1.5 km from Sannidhanam, in the forenoon.
The Neyyabhishekom offering to the presiding deity came to a close by 11 a.m. Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu, assisted by Melsanthi V.N. Vasudevan Namboodiri, performed the kalabhapuja at the Namaskara Mandapam by 11.45 a.m.
The Brahmakalasom carrying the sandal paste (kalabhom) for the Kalabhabhishekom was taken out in a ceremonial procession.
The sandal paste was poured over the Ayyappa idol amid loud chants of ‘Swamiye Saranom Ayyappa’, marking the culmination of the Kalabhabhishekom.
The sandal paste was distributed as prasadom among devotees later.
Devaswom Executive Officer D. Sudheshkumar and the representative of Pandalam Palace P. Raghava Varma supervised the ceremony.
The annual pilgrimage to the forest shrine will come to a close with the Guruti ritual at Malikappuram on Saturday evening.
Guruti
The ‘Guruti’ to propitiate the cohorts (‘bhoothagana’) of Lord Ayyappa will be performed after the closure of the Ayyappa temple in the evening.
The royal representative, and the executive officer will supervise ritual.
The Melsanthi will open the sanctum sanctorum at 6.30 a.m. on Sunday and close the shrine in the next 15 minutes, after facilitating the customary holy darshan exclusively for the royal representative. Later, the Melsanthi will hand over the keys of the sanctum sanctorum to the devaswom administrative officer, marking the culmination of this year’s Makaravilakku festival.
The Thiruvabharanam (sacred jewellery) will be taken back to Pandalam Palace in a ceremonial procession on Sunday morning.
