lakhs of pilgrims camping at the various vantage points of Sabarimala, Kerala’s pilgrimage centre famous for its lord Ayyappa temple, and millions of devotees sitting in their drawing rooms with eyes riveted on the TV sets on Sunday experienced the bliss of beholding the Makara Jyoti, the holy flame flickering in the horizon on the Makara Vilakku day.

The Jyoti appeared on the horizon over Ponnambalamedu, a summit several kilometres away from the lord Ayyappa shrine, on Sunday evening after the temple’s sanctum sanctorum opened for Deeparadhana (worship by lights) for which the idol of lord Ayyappa was decked in  the Thiruvabharanam (the holy ornaments).

The Makara Jyoti Darshan is the most important event of the 66-day, two-phase Mandalam-Makara Vilakku annual pilgrimage of Sabarimala. The lord Ayyappa shrine had opened for the current pilgrimage on November 15. The shrine had witnessed unprecedented rush of devotees for the Makara Jyoti Darshan, temple authorities said.

The Makara Samkrama Pooja, a special ritual performed at the sanctum sanctorum at the time of the Sun’s shifting from the Dhanu phase to Makara, was held from 1.30 PM Sunday. Several other rituals, special to the Makara Vilakku day, were also performed at the shrine after that.

As the holy flame flickered three times over Ponnambalamedu, the atmosphere at Sannidhanam, the abode of lord Ayyappa at the shrine, and other places in Sabarimala grew loud with the chanting of “Saranam Ayyappa” by lakhs of devotees including those who had been camping among the mountains eagerly for the blessed moment for the past several days.

The Thiruvabharanam, brought in a procession from the Valiya Koyikkal Palace, lord Ayyappa’s ancestral home at Pandalam, was received by distinguished personalities, priests, members of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) administering the temple and the pilgrims on Sunday evening after which the Deeparadhana was held.

The police and the TDB had made special arrangements to avoid overcrowding at the ten vantage points for sighting the Jyoti including Sannidhanam and the hill top at Pampa , the base camp for Sabarimala. Thousands of police personnel had been deployed atIJand around Sannidhanam and Pampa to meet security requirements.

According to TDB officials, the number of pilgrims who had reached Sabarimala for sighting the Jyoti this pilgrimage season had been bigger than that of the last season. As per estimates, over three crore devotees, mainly from Kerala and other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, visit Sabarimala during the two-phase pilgrimage every year.