Sabarimala temple closes after annual pilgrimage season

Marking the end of a pilgrimage season that had witnessed an unprecedented influx of devotees, the portals of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala were closed after a designate of the Pandalam palace visited the temple and offered prayers here on Sunday morning. The temple was opened in the morning at 5 a.m and Maha Ganapati Homam was performed under the leadership of the Tantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanararu. As it being the custom, no other person was permitted to offer prayers at the temple during the day. Following this, the Melsanthi closed the sanctum sanctorum after covering the idol of the main deity in sacred ash (Bhasmam) and handed over the keys to the palace representative, who, in turn, gave a purse to the priest. The palace representative then escorted the procession carrying the Thiruvabharanam (sacred jewellery) back to the Pandalam Palace. The entourage is slated to reach the palace on January 24. The hill temple is now slated to reopen for the monthly poojas on February 13 evening. The Travancore Devaswom Board is slated to open its virtual queue booking portal on February 4. The two months long season saw just over 50 lakhs people ascending the hillock, which sent the income soaring to a record high of ₹357 crore.