Sabarimala Temple ready for mandalam - makaravilakku pilgrimage
Read this article about "Sabarimala Temple ready for mandalam-makaravilakku pilgrimage". The 41 day Mandalam festival at the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple begins on 17 November 2011. Here you will get details regarding new time schedule, mandalapuja, makaravilakku festival, Pettathullal, ceremonial installation of new Sabarimala melsanthi etc.
Sabarimala Temple Ready For Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage
The Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala is ready for the two-month-long annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage. There are a good number of pilgrims, who are camping at Pampa as well as Sannidhanam. Ezhikode Sasi Namboodiri, the outgoing Melsanthi will be opening the sanctum sanctorum on 16 November 2011 at 5:30 PM for the 41 day Mandalam festival that begins on 17 November 2011,which is the first day in the Malayalam month of Vrischikom. Actually the temple rituals will begin with Kandararu Maheswararu, the chief priest or senior tantri who performs the Ashtadravya Ganapati Homom in the morning of 17 November 2011. As most people know the fact that there will be lots of people visiting this temple during the pilgrimage season. In view of this, the Travancore Devaswom Board has extended the daily darshan time at the Ayyappa temple by three & a half hours.
According to the new time schedule, the temple will be kept open for a total of 19 hours & 15 minutes every day. So for the Nirmalya Darshan, the temple will be opened at 3:00 AM & will close after the Utchapuja at 1:00 PM. After this, the temple will be reopened at 2:30 PM to close after the Athazhapuja at 11:45 PM. The Mandalapuja, which marks the culmination of the 41 day mandalam pilgrimage, will be held on 27 December 2011 along with the Utchapuja. After the Athazhapuja, the temple will be closed. For the Makaravilakku festival, the temple will be opened on 30 December 2011 afternoon.
Those who have visited this Sabarimala are familiar with the famous Pettathullal. Not only are the people who have visited Sabarimala, but also majority of the people familiar with Pettathullal. So it should be noted that this famous event will be held on 11 January 2012 & the procession carrying the Thiruvabharanam will set off to Sabarimala from Pandalam on 12 January 2012. On 15 January 2012, the Makarvilakku festival on the Makara Samkranthi day falls. By 20 January 2012, the temple will be closed after the customary holy darshan by the royal representative from Pandalam palace. Another important fact is that there will be a 6 member Appam-Aravana sales counter near Malikappuram, besides the 12 member prasadom complex at the lower tirumuttom. This will help the pilgrims to collect the prasadom en route itself. Apart from all this, the ceremonial installation of N. Balamurali, the new Sabarimala Melsanthi, will be held on 16 November 2011 at the Ayyappa Temple Sopanam.
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