Sabarimala temple’s annual pilgrimage begins today

The doors of the Sabarimala temple will open on Friday evening for the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku festival, a period that will draw lakhs of devotees from Kerala and neighbouring states, and for which the state government has made extensive arrangements, people familiar with the matter said.

Police said that the devotees will be allowed to climb up the hill to Sannidhanam from the base camp of Pampa by 1 pm and the doors of the sanctum sanctorum will open in the evening, said officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which administers the temple.

The sanctum sanctorum of the hill shrine dedicated to Lord Ayyappa will remain open for 18 hours a day in two phases — from 3 am to 1 pm and again from 3 pm to 11 pm.

The TDB, which had initially announced that it will solely rely on virtual queue slots for pilgrims during the annual festival, succumbed to pressure from political parties and pilgrim bodies and allowed spot booking at select places.

As per the plan drawn by TDB, there will be 70,000 slots per day on the virtual queue system and an additional 10,000 slots through spot booking. The spot booking system will be available to pilgrims, especially those who are not digital literate, at Pampa, Erumeli and Vandiperiyar. Pilgrims will have to present their ID cards such as Aadhaar or voter ID for spot booking.

The division bench of the Kerala high court on Thursday asked the TDB to file a report on how they plan to implement the virtual queue and spot booking systems and whether they would send back pilgrims who have registered on neither systems. The HC bench also asked KSRTC not to operate bus services where pilgrims will have to stand. Vehicles without fitness certificates should not be allowed for the pilgrimage, it said.

TDB officials said that virtual queue slots for the remaining days of November have been booked already by pilgrims, indicating the huge interest among them to visit the hill shrine.

While Nilackal has been set up as the main base camp of the pilgrimage and can park up to 10,000 vehicles, a temporary parking facility has also been arranged at Pampa.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has installed three rain gauges around Sabarimala and will provide dedicated decentralised weather information in a three-day cycle. This is the first time the weather agency is providing localised weather information for Sabarimala, similar to the service it provides for Amarnath and Char Dham pilgrimages.

The 41-day Mandala pilgrimage will formally begin on Saturday and end on December 26 after the adoration of the “thanka anki” (golden ornaments) on the deity brought from the Aranmula Parthasarathy temple. The second phase of Makaravilakku festival will begin at the temple on December 30 and conclude on Jan 20, 2025. The main day of Makaravilakku festival falls on January 15, 2025.

Over 5 million pilgrims had visited the shrine and offered prayers during the 2023-24 pilgrimage season.