The Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple will open on October 16 at 5 pm for ‘Thula masam’ poojas and on the subsequent day a draw of tons could be held to pick its subsequent ‘melshanti’ (head priest), the Travancore Devaswom Board mentioned on Thursday.
The temple could be opened and the lamps could be lit by the current melshanti V Ok Jayaraj Potti within the presence of the Thanthri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanaru, a launch issued by the Board mentioned.
Subsequently, the Upadevata temple could be opened and a lamp could be lit there additionally. A hearth would even be lit in entrance of the 18th step of the trail resulting in the shrine, it mentioned. It additionally mentioned that there could be no poojas on the day the temple is opened.
The Board, additionally mentioned, that melshantis for Sabarimala and Malikappuram temples could be chosen by way of draw of tons on October 17 after the ‘Ushapoojas’ recover from.
The tons could be drawn by two boys above 10 years of age from the Pandalam Palace. Both melshantis would proceed as such for the subsequent one 12 months, the discharge mentioned.
The Board additional mentioned that devotees can be allowed to enter Sabarimala from October 17 to 21 and entry could be permitted solely by digital queue reserving.
Devotees arriving on the temple will need to have a two-dose COVID vaccine certificates or an RT-PCR damaging report with them, it mentioned and added that ‘Neyyabhishekam’, ‘Udayasthamana Pooja’, ‘Kalabhabhishekam’, ‘Padipooja’ and ‘Pushpabhishekam’ could be the rituals carried out throughout this era.
The temple could be closed on October 21 after which reopen on November 2 as a part of the ‘Chithira Attavishesham’.
Thereafter, on November three the temple could be closed once more and reopen on November 15 for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku competition.