Heavy rush in Sannidhanam, ten thousands throng for a glimpse of Ayyappan, devaswom minister to arrive today

SABARIMALA: There is a heavy rush of devotees in Sannidhanam. Nearly 60,000 devotees have booked for today. Apart from this, pilgrims will reach through spot booking at 12 places. The Devasam Board has decided to make more arrangements as the crowd increases. A team led by Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan will reach Sannidhanam today and assess the situation directly.

More than 10,000 pilgrims throng to Sabarimala on the first day of its opening. The pilgrimage starts today, which is the first day of Vrischikam 1, but the pilgrims kept coming until the temple was closed yesterday. The temple was opened at 3 am today. The newly installed Melshanti K Jayaraman Namboothiri opened the shrine and lit the lamp.

When melshanthi N Parameswaran Namboodithiri opened the sanctum sanctorum under the presence of tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru, the entire Sabarimala was full of prayers. Melshanti lit the lamps in the shrine and woke up the Lord from his yogic slumber. Sub-deity temples were also opened and lamps were lit. Then the devotees climbed the 18 holy steps and had a darshan of the lord. Tantri distributed Vibhuti Prasad. There were no special pujas yesterday.

Jayaraman Namboothiri and Hariharan Namboothiri took charge as the new melsanthis of Sannidhanam and Malikappuram. Melshanti N Parameswaran Namboodiri accompanied the two who climbed the steps with irumudikettu, accompanied them to the front of the shrine.

Mandala Puja is on December 27. The temple will be opened on December 30 for the Makaravilakku.