Sabarimala gets new Melsanthi; Areekkara Subrahmanyan Namboothiri selected

PATHANAMTHITTA: Areekkara Subrahmanyan Sankaran Namboothiri has been selected as the new Melsanthi of the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala. Kozhikode Vadakara native A Damodaran Namboothiri has been selected as the Melsanthi of the Malikappuram Temple.

Subrahmanyan Sankaran Namboothiri, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, was selected in the third round of the draw. He has been serving as the Melsanthi of the Pazhavangadi temple for the past five years. He had applied for the Sabarimala Melsanthi post five times earlier and made it to the shortlist on three occasions, but was unsuccessful in the final draw each time.

The lots were drawn by Devanandan Arjun and Anaswara M Ranjith, children of the Pandalam royal family. Devanandan picked the lot for the Sabarimala Melsanthi post, while Anaswara picked the lot for the Malikappuram post. Ramavarma Raja of the Pandalam royal family entrusted the children with drawing the lots. The children were selected for the draw based on the report of retired Justice K T Thomas, in accordance with the Supreme Court's 2011 order.

This year, only those who had worked continuously for 10 years in a temple where three daily pujas are conducted were eligible to apply for the posts. The shortlist for the interview was prepared under strict vigilance supervision. Seven candidates were shortlisted from the 78 applications received. Two were included in the shortlist for the Sabarimala Melsanthi post, while five were shortlisted for the Malikappuram Melsanthi post.