P N Mahesh selected Sabarimala melsanthi; P G Murali is Malikapuram melsanthi

PATHANAMTHITTA: P N Mahesh of Ernakulam Muvattupuzha Puthilath Mana has been selected as the Sabarimala melsanthi. Mahesh is a native of Enanalloor in Muvattupuzha. He is presently the priest of Paramekavu temple.

In the function held in Sannidhanam, Mahesh was selected as the melsanthi in the first draw itself. There were 17 people in the list. Vaideh M Varma, a nominee of the Pandalam palace drew the lots for Sabarimala melsanthi.

P G Murali of Thrissur Thozhiyoor Vadakkekkat Pookkattu Mana has been selected as Malikapuram melsanthi. He was selected in the seventh draw. There were 12 people in the final melsanthi list in Malikapuram Temple.

The new melsanthis of Sannidhanam and Malikapuram will take charge from Vrishchikam 1st and their tenure will be for one year. After the usha pooja, the papers for the draw of lots were put in the silver pot. Then the tantri took the pots to the sreelakam and after the pooja, kept it before the sanctum sanctorum. The draw of lots were held after this.

The draw of lots were held in the presence of devaswom president advocate K Ananda Gopan, board members advocate S S Jeevan, G Sundaresan, special commissioner M Manoj, high court observer retd justice Padmanabhan Nair, devaswom commissioner, B S Prakash, secretary G Baiju, Sabarimala executive officer V Krishna Kumar and devaswom vigilance S P Subramanyan.

The Sabarimala temple had opened the other day for poojas for the month of Thulam. At 5 pm yesterday, melsanthi K Jayaraman Namboodiri, in the presence of tantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohan, lit the lamp at sreelakam. Then the melsanthi descended the eighteenth step and lit the fire in the homam kundam below. There were no special poojas yesterday. The temple will be closed at 10 pm on October 22 after completing the poojas. The temple will be opened on November 10 at 5 pm for Chithira Aatta. The Aatta Chithira is on November 11.