Crowds flock to Sabarimala Temple as annual pilgrimage season begins tomorrow

Hundreds of devotees thronged the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple on Thursday evening as the portals of the hill shrine opened for the annual MandalamMakaravilakkku pilgrimageThe 41day pilgrimage season would begin on Friday the first day of the auspicious Malayalam month of VrichikamThe sanctum sanctorum was opened under the aegis of temple tantri head priest Mahesh Mohanaru while melshanthi chief priest K Jayaraman Namboothiri led the ritualsThe sannidhanam the temple complex and its premises reverberated with chants of swamiye saranam Ayyappa by devotees who trekked for hours through the traditional path from the base camp at Pampa to reach the hill shrineNew melshanthies of the Sabarimala and Malikappuram temples P N Mahesh and P G Murali respectively offered prayers at the shrines ahead of assuming charge tomorrowEven before the shrine is to be opened in the wee hours of Friday for the beginning of the MandalamMakaravilakku pilgrimage Sabarimala and its premises already witnessed a heavy rush of devotees temple sources saidP S Prashanth the president of Travancore Devaswom Board the apex temple body that manages the shrine and other officials were present during the time of the opening of the templeThe TDB president later said all arrangements have been completed at sannidhanam and Pampa to receive devotees ahead of the pilgrimage season Basic amenities and infrastructure facilities have been provided to ensure smooth darshan he addedEarlier in the week Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan had said that steps including the use of advanced technologies have been taken to ensure a safe and smooth pilgrimage for all devoteesA dynamic queuecontrol system was introduced this season to manage crowding at sannidhanam and a video wall would be set up at Nilakkal Pampa and at the temple complex to inform devotees about the rush he saidHe also made it clear that emergency health centres have been set up at 15 places on the route between Pampa and sannidhanamThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever