Kerala: Devotees flock to Sabarimala Temple as annual Mandala-Makaravilakku festival begins

PATHANAMTHITTA(Kerala): Thousands of devotees of Lord Ayyappa gathered to offer prayers at the Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala on Saturday.

The temple opened its doors on November 15 to mark the start of the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku festival, marking the beginning of the annual pilgrimage season.

A devotee, Anand spoke to ANI and said, “I have come from Mumbai. I have been coming to Sabarimala for the last 26 years continuously. The development that has been done at Sabarimala is good. Transportation, as well as cleanliness, surroundings, infrastructure and buildings, have come up.”

Another devotee also spoke about the festival and said, “We have come from Tamil Nadu, especially from Tiruvannamalai district. We all reached Sabarimala safely. Transport facilities were good this year. Online registration is a good option introduced by Sabarimala recently…We had a good darshan.”

Kaushik, another devotee said, “We have all come from Bengaluru. We have been coming here for the past 7-8 years. We all reached Pampa at 4 am. All the facilities are very nice here and it is managed well. There is not much crowd, the crowd is being well managed…It is very good to be in Sabarimala.”

Kerala’s Sabarimala temple welcomed devotees on Friday afternoon, marking the start of the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season.

#WATCH | Kerala: Thousands of devotees of Lord Ayyappa throng Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta district, to offer prayers.

The temple opened on 15th November to mark the start of the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku festival, marking the beginning of the annual pilgrimage… pic.twitter.com/GSkejmfgmv

— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2024

The outgoing Melsanthi (head priest) PN Mahesh Namboothiri opened the temple’s sanctum sanctorum.The newly appointed Melsanthis S. Arun Kumar Namboothiri and Vasudevan Namboothiri will officially assume their roles at the Ayyappa temple and the Malikappuram Devi temple.

Last month, in response to the opposition’s demand to reinstate spot bookings for the Sabarimala pilgrimage during the Mandala-Makaravilakku season, Kerala’s Devaswom Minister, VN Vasavan, clarified the government’s decision.

Speaking in the legislative assembly, Vasavan explained that the state government had opted for an online booking system to regulate the number of pilgrims and ensure a smoother pilgrimage experience.

Opposition Leader, VD Satheesan, raised concerns about the online booking system, urging the government to reconsider its decision. He argued that many devotees, especially from other states, may not be familiar with the online system and that limiting entry to only online reservations would prevent thousands of devotees from fulfilling their 41-day vow and having darshan at the temple.

Satheesan also pointed out that before 2018, all pilgrims were allowed entry to Sabarimala, and the lack of spot bookings now could lead to dangerous overcrowding. In response, Minister Vasavan explained that a virtual meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, had discussed the issue and decided to limit the number of daily pilgrims to 80,000.

The Minister added that past experiences showed that spot bookings led to overcrowding and made it difficult to manage the pilgrimage. This year, the government will rely on the virtual queue booking system to ensure safety and a better experience for all pilgrims.

The Minister then assured that necessary infrastructure and crowd management measures would be in place to handle the flow of pilgrims. (ANI)