The important occasion of the `Makara Vilakku Pooja` is scheduled to be performed in the Sabarimalai Lord Sri Ayyappan Temple on 14th January!
For this special and sacred Occasion, swearing crowds of devotees increasing with each passing day have been gathering at the Sabarimala Lord Sri Ayyappan Temple.
On the most important occasions of the Mandala Pooja and Makara Vilakku Pooja festivals performed in the Sabarimalai Lord Sri Ayyappan Temple, it has been customary as a tradition for a very large number of devotees from various other states to visit the Sabarimala Lord Sri Ayyappan temple!
However, over the last 2 years, due to the impact of the raging coronavirus pandemic, the number of devotees for the above occasions reduced drastically due to the lockdown restrictions imposed for the devotees visiting Lord Sri Ayyappan Temple in Sabarimala.
With the restriction released, for this year, the temple corridors of Lord Sri Ayyappan Temple at Sabarimalai were opened on 16th November for the occasion of the Mandala Vilakku Pooja and from this day, swarming crowds of devotee`s java kept visiting Sabarimalai Lord Sri Ayyappan temple!
The devotees were allowed for Darshan as per the ONLINE reservation and ON-THE-SPOT reservation bookings.
The Mandala Pooja concluded on 27th December. The temple corridors were closed subsequently.
Later, the temple corridors of the Sabarimalai Lord Sri Ayyappan Temple opened again on 30th December for the occasion of the Makara Vilakku Pooja.
In this scenario, on the occasion of the special Makara Vilakku Pooja scheduled to be performed on the 14th of January, there has been a substantial increase in the number of devotees booking ONLINE, a maximum of 80000 devotees were allowed to book per day!
As such, the ONLINE bookings for the Makara Vilakku Pooja scheduled on 14th January got full 2 days before! As such, the Dewaswom Board has informed that the devotees who failed to book ONLINE, have the avenue for `SPOT-Booking “only!
Despite the situation described above, there is no reduction in the number of devotees visiting Sabarimala! Instead, it has kept increasing with each passing day!
As such, the devotees need to wait in queues for a long time for Darshan!
In this regard, an official of the Dewaswom Board shared:
“The various whole events to be performed for the Makara Vilakku Pooja are scheduled to be carried out on 12th and 13th January!
The Thiruvabaranam to adorn the idol of Lord Sri Ayyappan will be coming from the Pandhanam Palace and is being carried on a procession on 12th January. This procession will move via Yerimeli and reach Sabarimalai on 14th January and the same day, at 6.30 PM, the idol of Lord Sri Ayyappan will be adorned with the above `Thiruvabaranam`!
On the day of Makara Vilakku Pooja, the temple corridors will be open until 11.30 PM on 14th January.
The Poojas will continue to be performed until 19th January. The representative of the Pandhanam Royal family will visit the temple of Lord Sri Ayyappan on 20th January for the Darshan of Lord Sri Ayyappan. After this, the Makara Vilakkkku Pooja concludes!
The temple corridors of Sabarimala Lord Sri Ayyappan temple will be closed after this!”
