The customary procession carrying the Thiruvabharanam (sacred jewellery of the presiding deity at Sabarimala) set off to the Sannidhanam from Pandalam at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
The three boxes containing the Thiruvabharanam were being carried on head by a 25-member team led by Kulathinal Gangadharan Pillai. A team of Travancore Devaswom Board officials and the police are too accompanying the procession. Shankar Varma, who represents the Pandalam palace, is leading the procession.
The proceedings began with the authorities shifting the sacred jewellery from the strongroom of the Srambickal palace to the adjoining Valiyakoickal Sastha temple by 4 a.m. It was later taken out by 1 p.m. following a felicitation of the group members.
Notwithstanding the COVID-19 regulations, a huge number of devotees thronged the palace and the temple to witness the occasion.
The procession, which began in the afternoon, is slated to reach Laha on Thursday after halting at the Puthiyakavu Devi temple at Ayroor on Wednesday night. After halting at Laha, it will each the Sabarimala Sannidhanam via Valiyanavattom and Saramkuthi on Friday afternoon.
The presiding deity of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple will be adorned with the sacred jewellery prior to the deeparadhana ritual on the Makaravilakku day on January 14.
The Pathanamthitta police have initiated steps to avoid crowds along the procession route.
The palace representative is slated to return from Sabarimala with the ornaments after the kalabham and guruthui rituals at the Ayyappa temple and the Malikappuram Devi temple respectively
