Each year Sabarimala Ayyappa temple is opened for devotees during the Mandala – Makaravilakku season for two months.

This year also, the Sabarimala temple opened on Sunday evening and devotees are allowed to enter the temple starting from Monday morning.

The chief priest K. Sudheer Namboothiri opened the doors of the sanctum sanctorum of Sabarimala temple in the presence of head priest Kandhararu Rajeevaru and lit the lamps. Yet, the priests did not conduct special pujas.

An installation ceremony of the newly elected head priest followed the lighting of lamps by the priests.

The Mandala festival season continues till December 26 and the Makaravilakku festival will continue from December 30 to January 14. The temple will be closed for three days from December 27 to December 29.

Amid COVID-10 pandemic, the Sabarimala temple opened, and devotees are allowed to visit the shrine as usual.

However, devotees have to follow COVID-19 protocols strictly. Both the Kerala state government and Travancore Devaswom Board made arrangements for the safety of the devotees during their visit to the temple.

To visit the shrine, devotees have to show a COVID-19 negative certificate. Only such devotees are allowed for darshan. Pilgrims can undergo a test for COVID-19 at various testing facilities established in bus stands and railway stations.

Each year lakhs of tourists visit the temple. However, this year around 85,0000 devotees are allowed to visit the shrine for the entire season.

The government restricted the number of devotees who visit the temple per day to 1,000. They have to book through the virtual queue system for the darshan of Lord Ayyappa. However, 2,000 pilgrims are allowed on Saturdays and Sundays.

Besides, the government will allow more number of devotees on Makaravilakku day.

Image Credit: Vinayaraj / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sabarimala_temple_during_Periyar_butterfly_survey_at_Sabarimala,_2014_(12).jpg