Kochi: Chants of ‘Swamiye Saranamayyappa’ reverberated in the air as lakhs sighted the Makarajyoti that appeared on the eastern horizon of the Sabarimala temple when deeparadhana was being offered to Lord Ayyappa idol after adorning it with Thiruvabharanam on Tuesday.
The Sannidhanam was a sea of humanity by evening and pilgrims were camping there for the last three days to catch a glimpse of the ‘Makarajyoti’.
Tantri Kandararu Maheswararu and melshanti P.N. Narayanan Nampoothiri performed the deeparadhana at 6.30 p.m. and five minutes later a bright flame flickered three times on a remote hillside of Ponnambalamedu facing the Lord Ayyappa temple. Pilgrims congregated in large numbers at vantage points along the traditional routes like Hilltop and Pulmedu to witness Makarajyoti.
Earlier, the Thiruvabharanam procession was accorded a traditional reception on its arrival at Saramkuthi at 5 p.m. A 20-member team, led by Sabarimala Devaswom executive officer B. Mohan Das received the procession and led the Thiruvabharanam team to Sopanam.
At Sopanam, the Thiruvabharanam procession was received by TDB president M.P. Govindan Nair, Sabarimala chief coordinator K.Jayakumar, TDB member Subhash Vasu, special commissioner K. Babu and devaswom commissioner P. Venugopal.
The Thantri and the Melsanthi received the Thiruvabharanam before the Sreekovil and adorned it on the idol of Lord Ayyappa.
By night, the 'Kalamezhuthum Pattum' ritual started at Malikappuram 'Manimandapam. The temple will be closed after Guruthi ceremony on January 20 when the royal designate from the Pandalam palace offers prayers.
