SABARIMALA - Central News Hub

All arrangements in place for new Sabarimala temple season

The temple authorities and the priests will reach the temple later on Monday and begin their customary prayers ahead of opening the temple to the devotees at 5.30 p.m….reports Asian Lite News

All arrangements are in place for a fresh new season of the famed Lord Ayyappa-dedicated Sabarimala temple, which will open for devotees on Tuesday early morning.

The temple authorities and the priests will reach the temple later on Monday and begin their customary prayers ahead of opening the temple to the devotees at 5.30 p.m.

But with heavy rains lashing the state, things appear to be in a state of flux with authorities putting up restrictions. The holy dip in the Pamba river, a must for all devotees before they start the ascend to the temple, located in a hillock, has been banned until further notice.

It has been decided to limit the daily number of devotees to a maximum of 30,000 which should be pre-booked and in a few days from now spot booking counters will be opened as well.

According to the temple authorities, by now more than 1.3 million pilgrims have pre-booked their temple visit.

The two-month long temple season will end in the third week of January with a few days break in December.

Incidentally this temple, which is the biggest earner for the Travancore Devaswom Board, the body that runs this temple and numerous others in the south Kerala districts, for a few years since 2018 has had a troubled festival season.

First came a Supreme Court order which gave the nod for opening of the temple to all women. The temple was barred for women in the age group of 10 to 50 years and with the Kerala government determined to go forward with the apex court’s directive, the Sangh Parivar affiliates launched a massive protest and numerous clashes broke out.

And then came the Covid-19 pandemic, which halted the two-month long festival season in 2020 and this year, too, things are not that rosy as all pilgrims arriving have either to carry a negative RT-PCR test report taken prior to 72 hours or should have taken both the vaccine jabs.

The authorities have pointed out that the temple offerings and sale of “appom” and “aravana” (payasem) as the “prasad” are all ready.

Temple authorities pointed out that the present stock of aravana was around one million containers besides two lakh packets of appom are also ready, while the production of two lakh containers of aravana and one lakh packets of appam a day, will be done to meet the daily demands.

The security at the temple has been beefed up, and the temple town will be now under the Additional Director General Of Police of Police, S. Sreejith and his team.

Five emergency health centres are also ready at critical points where there is going to be an influx of pilgrims and special areas have been demarcated for those who wish to take rest in case of any sort of uneasiness, said Kerala Health Minister Veena George, who hails from the Pathanamthitta district, where the temple town is located.

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Sabarimala, the most discussed election topic in Kerala

It was in 2018 that the apex court ruled that the temple should be open to all women irrespective of the age group as until then the temple tradition was that no women in the age group 10 to 50 be allowed entry…reports Asian Lite News.

‘Sabarimala’ is always a prime concern of all political parties in Kerala ahead of the ongoing assembly election in Kerala. The controversy over the breaking of the Sabarimala temple’s culture and tradition continues to rage and is even now the most discussed election issue in Kerala as seen from the statements of various top political leaders, who came to cast their votes on Tuesday.

The Sabarimala temple issue was raised by Sukumaran Nair, general secretary of the powerful Hindu Nair community’s social and cultural organisation — Nair Service Society.

Soon after casting his vote at Changnacherry in Kottayam district, Nair said what he could sense is that the people in the state want a change in governance and want an outfit which will uphold social justice and secular credentials.

“The Sabarimala temple issue continues to rage as believers are angry,” said Nair.

It was in 2018 that the apex court ruled that the temple should be open to all women irrespective of the age group as until then the temple tradition was that no women in the age group 10 to 50 be allowed entry.

Following the verdict, the Vijayan-led government floated a renaissance movement, much to the anguish of the believers of Lord Ayyappa, the deity at the Sabarimala temple, and even went to the extent of providing security to two activist women to pray at the temple by providing police security.

The temple town then became a battle ground after believers in large members resisted attempts by the police to take women in the hitherto banned age group.

This temple issue came as a setback for Vijayan in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when he won only one of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala.

Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena monitoring webcasting of polling booths. (Twitter/PIB KERALA)

On Tuesday, after casting his vote at Kannur, Vijayan when asked about Nair’s Sabarimala temple issue said, “it’s not just Ayyappan alone, all God’s are supporting the Left,” said Vijayan, who was accompanied by his wife Kamala Vijayan.

And then came statements from the Congress leaders who condemned this sudden U-turn by Vijayan.

Reacting to Vijayan’s sudden love for Lord Ayyappan, Chennithala laughed and said it was strange to hear an atheist’s sudden love for Ayyappan.

“Vijayan will get the wrath of Ayyappan as he destroyed the sanctity of the famed Sabarimala temple,” said Chennithala.

Two time former Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Vijayan’s statement will be taken with a pinch of salt by the people as it has no sum or substance.

“The first thing he did was to file a fresh affidavit and it was done after withdrawing our affidavit, and it was clear that he was against the existing traditions of the temple.

When the apex court verdict came, he said he will abide by the verdict. Soon he led a renaissance movement and when no women came to visit the temple, police forcefully took two women to the temple and the culture and traditions were broken. And on election day Vijayan has made a huge U-turn and this would be dismissed by every devotee as nothing but a bluff,” said Chandy and added the Congress-led UDF will win a resounding victory.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.Muraleedharan laughed at the statement of Vijayan and said it’s high time that the CPI-M be wound up as their ideology has been thrown out of the window.

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