SABARIMALA: The hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa here will be opened on Wednesday for the five-day monthly poojas for the Malayalam month of Thulam. Melsanthi Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri will open the Sreekovil of the temple in the afternoon in the presence of thantri Kandararu Rajivaru.
As an ongoing practice of the temple, no rituals will be performed at the Sreekovil in the evening.
Kalabhabhishekam, sahasrakalasam and laksharchana will be the special rituals to be performed at the temple during the five-day monthly poojas.
Kalabhabhishekam will be offered to the Lord on the first day of the monthly poojas on October 18. As part of the ritual, thantri Kandararu Rajivaru will perform brahmakalasa pooja at the mandapam of the temple in the presence of melsanthi Unnikrishnan Nampoothiri at 10 am.
Kalabhabhishekam, marking the conclusion of the ritual, on the idol of Lord Ayyappa will be performed during uchcha pooja after the procession carrying the brahamakalsam led by the thantri circumambulates the sreekovil.
Udayasthamana pooja, padi pooja and pushpabhishekam will be the other rituals to be performed at the temple on all the five days of the monthly poojas.
The selection of new melsanthi for Sabarimala and Malikappuram temple will be at held after usha pooja at 8 am on October 18.
The selection based on draw of lots will be conducted from the list of nine aspirants who were shortlisted at the interview held by a jury panel, including TDB president A Padmakumar, members K Raghavan and K P Sankaradas, Sabarimala tantris Kandararu Rajivaru and Mahesh Mohanaru, in Thiruvananthapuram on October 12 and 13.
The new melsanthi will take charge for a period of one year on the first day of the Malayalam month Vrischikam on November 17.