SABARIMALA: In a surcharged atmosphere of religious fervour and piety, lakhs of devotees witnessed Makaravilakku after adorning thiruvabharanam on the idol of Lord Ayyappa here on Wednesday. Makaravilakku darshan on the auspicious occasion of deeparadhana after adorning the attire in gold on the idol of Lord Ayyappa, was performed at 6.40pm under the leadership of thantri Mahesh Mohanaru in the presence of melsanthi Sudhir Nampoothiri.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, devaswom ombudsman P R Raman, TDB president N Vasu, members K S Ravi and Vijayakumar, special commissioner M Manoj, devaswom commissioner BS Thirumeni, devaswom deputy commissioner Sudheeshkumar, Sabarimala devaswom executive officer Rajendra Prasad and administrative officer Sreekumar were present on the auspicious occasion.
The thiruvabharanam procession was accorded a traditional reception on arrival at Saramkuthi at 5pm. A devaswom team led by Sabarimala devaswom administrative officer Sreekumar and assistant executive officer J Jayaprakash received the thiruvabharanam team and led it to the sopanam accompanied by percussion ensemble. The thiruvabharanam team, on arrival at Sopanam, after climbing the Holy Steps, was received by TDB president N Vasu and members K S Ravi and Vijayakumar, special commissioner M Manoj and devaswom commissioner B S Thirumeni.
After the reception at Sopanam, the thiruvabharanam was received in front of the Sreekovil by thantri Mahesh Mohanaru and the melsanthi and was taken inside for the deeparadhana after adorning the idol with the golden attire.
Immediately after deeparadhana, a star was scene on the sky on the east of the temple and ‘Makarajyothi’ was visible on the sky on south-eastern side of the temple.
Thousands of devotees, who were camping for days at Sannidhanam, including near annadana mandapam at Malikappuram, Pandithavalam and Saramkuthi witnessed the Makarajyothi and ‘star’ as part of the Makaravilakku ceremony.