SABARIMALA: Thousands of devotees offered their prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple here on the Vishu day on Wednesday.
Melsanthi Krishnadas Nampoothiri opened the sreekovil of the temple of Lord Ayyappa at 4 am for the ‘vishudarsan’ in the presence of Thantri Kandararu Rajeevararu.
‘Vishukaineettom’ (coins) was offered to the devotees in front of the Sreekovil of the temple by Thantri Rajeevararu and Melsanthi Krishnadas Nampoothiri. Travancore devaswom board president M P Govindan Nair and members Subhash Vasu and P K Kumaran, special commissioner K Babu and Sabarimala devaswom executive officer V S Jayakumar were among those who were in front of sreekovil when the hill shrine was opened for ‘vishukanidarsan’.
Heavy Rush of Pilgrims
An unprecedented rush of pilgrims was witnessed at Lord Ayyappa temple for ‘vishudarsan’. Sannidhanam and nearby areas were filled to their capacity with the pilgrims even on Tueday night for ‘vishukanidarsan’. Long queues of pilgrims were seen up to Malikappuram Nadapandal at 4 am when the nada was opened for the ‘darsan’.
Fly-overs at Sopanam, Lower Thirumottam and Valiyanadapandal were full with devotees even after four hours of the opening of the ‘nada’. The pilgrims were allowed to offer Neyyabhishekam only after Usha pooja at 8 am.
Kalabhabhishekam Ritual Conducted
Kalabhabhishekam was the special ritual that was conducted as part of the Vishu celebrations.
Udayasthamana pooja, Pushpabhishekam and Padi pooja were the other rituals held as part of ‘vishudarsan’.
The hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa will be closed in the evening on April 19, marking the conclusion of the ten-day Vishu festival, after Athazha pooja and Harivarasanam.
Bus falls into gorge; no casualities
Kochi: Seventeen persons from Chennai, including pilgrims, had a miraculous escape on Thursday after the mini bus in which they were travelling fell into a gorge at Chalakkayam near Pampa.The majority of the passengers of the ill-fated vehicle were returning after visiting the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala. Karuna Moorthy, 65, has been admitted to the General Hospital, Pathanamthitta, with an injured leg. The mini bus fell into a gorge after it skidded off the road, which had become slippery due to rain. Jayaprakash, owner of the vehicle; driver Sreenivasan, 35; Shashikumar, 45; Manimanaran, 35; Shekhar, 32; Mukthiraj, 55; Sreenivas, 48; Kannan, 32; Suresh Kumar, 42; Prabhakaran, 42; Somasundar, 42; Balu, 42; Hariharan, 20; Vasudevaprasad, 40; Vivekanandan, 32; and Sreedhar, 42, escaped with minor injuries.
