The Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala will be opened on Tuesday afternoon for the five-day monthly rituals in the Malayalam month of Medom that begins on Wednesday.
The Devaswom Executive Officer, M.Satishkumar, told The Hindu that the Melsanthi, N.Balamurali, would open the sanctum sanctorum at 5.30 pm on Tuesday. However, the temple will begin only with the Tantri, Kandararu Maheswararu, performing the Ashtadravya Ganapati homom on Wednesday morning, first day in the month of Medom.
Sahasrakalasabhishekom, Kalabhabhishekom, Pushpabhishekom, Udayasthamanapuja, Pusabhishekom and Padipuja will be held on the five days.
The Ayyappa Temple will be closed after the Athazhapuja on March 18 evening, marking the culmination of the five-day monthly rituals.
Pampa turns dry
Water level in river Pampa on the foothills of Sabarimala has been drastically reduced, leaving the bathing ghats almost dry, posing problems to the pilgrims for taking the customary holy dip as part of their pilgrimage to the holy hillock.
Even the water level in the close vicinity of the pump house of the Kerala Water Authority at Pampa Triveni too has come down to an alarming situation, official sources said.
Now, with hardly 24 hours left for the opening of the Ayyappa Temple for the monthly rituals, the Kerala State Electricity Board has not taken any step for releasing sufficient water from the Kullar dam or Kochu Pampa dam in the upper reaches so as to maintain an optimum water level in Pampa.
The Executive Officer has alerted the situation at Pampa to the higher authorities in Thiruvananthapuram so that necessary steps could be taken by the KSEB for releasing water to the Pampa bathing ghats before the opening of the Ayyappa Temple on Tuesday.
