KOCHI: Pandalam Kottara Nirvahaka Sanghom and Revathi Nal P Ramavarma Raja, Valiya Raja of Pandalam Palace, on Wednesday approached the Kerala High Court seeking a review of its order to stop the elephant parade at Sabarimala during the Makaravilakku festival.
According to the petitioners, Makaravilakku is the most important festival at Sabarimala and it has been celebrated according to the Padahadi system from the beginning.
The ‘Ezhunnallathu’ of Lord Ayyappa atop an elephant, which starts from the Manimandapam, is the most important customary ceremony of the festival. All the customary rites, traditional rights and precedents, which have been followed for centuries, should be preserved in connection with the Pandalam Palace and Sabarimala Temple, without any change.
The court issued the ban order based on the suo motu proceedings initiated by it following the death of a pilgrim after an elephant ran amok.
The court had also sought the opinion of former Sabarimala Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru and present Tantri Kandararu Maheshwararu Mohanararu regarding the use of elephants during the Makaravilakku and the annual festivals. Though both the Tantris had concurred with the view that elephants could be dispensed with during the festival, there were differences of opinion on the use of elephants during the annual festival.
The petitioners submitted that they were not parties to the proceedings and the Bench had passed the order without hearing them.