lakhs of pilgrims camping at various vantage points at Sabarimala, Kerala’s pilgrimage centre famous for its lord Ayyappa temple, and millions of devotees sitting in their drawing rooms with eyes glued to the television sets, experienced eternal bliss of beholding the Makara Jyoti, the ultimate event of the 66-day annual pilgrimage, on Tuesday evening.
The Jyoti, the holy flame flickering three times, appeared on the horizon over Ponnambalamedu, a summit several kilometres away from the lord Ayyappa shrine, on Tuesday evening when the temple’s sanctum sanctorum opened for Deeparadhana (worship by lights) for which the idol of lord Ayyappa was decked with the Thiruvabharanam (the holy ornaments).
As the holy flame flickered at Ponnambalamedu, the atmosphere at Sannidhanam, the abode of lord Ayyappa at the shrine, and other places in Sabarimala grew loud with chanting of “Saranam Ayyappa” from the throats of lakhs of devotees 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 numerous pilgrims on Tuesday evening after which the Deeparadhana was held.
The special Makara Samkrama Pooja was performed at sanctum sanctorum at 1.14 pm on Tuesday, the time of the Sun’s shifting from the Dhanu phase to Makara. Several other rituals were also performed at the shrine on the most important and auspicious day of the two-phase Mandalam -Makaravilakku annual pilgrimage season.
According to TDB officials, the rush of pilgrims who had reached Sabarimala for sighting the Jyoti this year was unprecedented. As per estimates, about three crore devotees from Kerala and other States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh visit Sabarimala during the pilgrimage every year.
The police and the TDB had made special arrangements to avoid overcrowding at Sannidhanam, Pampa, the base camp for Sabarimala, and other places. In a gruesome tragedy, 102 pilgrims had been killed at Pullumedu en route to the shrine on the night of January 14, 2011 in a stampede.
The lord Ayyappa temple had opened on November 15 for the annual Mandalam-Makara Vilakku pilgrimage. The shrine was closed on December 26 after the 41-day Mandalam festival to be reopened four days later for the second phase of the pilgrimage.