The beginning of Mandala period
Sabarimala temple was opened for mandala pooja with chants of Lord Ayyappa by the devotees. The sanctum sanctorum was opened at 5 pm on Wednesday by melsanthi N Parameswaram under the leadership of tantri Kantararu Rajeevararu.
The melasanti lit the lamps in the shrine and woke up the Lord from his yogic nidra (slumber). Sub-deity temples were also opened and lamps were lit.The large fire pit in front of the 'pathinettam padi' was also lit. Then the devotees climbed the sacred steps to perform darshan. There were no special poojas on Wednesday.
Jayaraman Namboothiri in Sannidhanam and Hariharan Namboothiri in Malikappuram are the two new 'purappeda melsanthis' (chief priests who have to live within the premises of the temple). N Parameswaran Namboothiri, who is leaving his post as the melsanthi led them to the front of the shrine. Then Jayaraman Namboothiri was made the new chief priest in a ritual by tantri Kantararu Rajeevararu and led him inside the shrine. After closing the door of the sanctum sanctorum, Then tantri recited Ayyappan's 'moolamantra' (basic mantra) in the new melsanthi's ear. Hariharan Namboothiri was installed as Malikappuram melsanthi by performing kalasabhishekam in front of Malikappuram shrine.
Adv. Pramod Narayan MLA, Devaswom Board President Adv.K. Ananthagopan, Devaswom Board Member P.M. Thankappan, ADGP MR. Ajith Kumar, District Police Chief Swapnil M. Mahajan, Devaswom Secretary K. Biju, Sabarimala Executive Officer H. Krishnakumar and others participated.
Mandala Pooja is on December 27. The temple will be opened on December 30 for the Makaravilakku Utsav. Makaravilakku is on January 14. The pilgrimage will conclude on January 20.
Inflow of devotees
More than ten thousand devotees flocked to Sabarimala on the first day of its opening. The pilgrimage starts today, the first day of Vrishchikam month, but the devotees continued to arrive till the temple closed on Wednesday night.