Sabarimala: The Sabarimala temple opened its doors for the Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. In the presence of the chief priests, Kandaru Rajeevaru and Kandaru Brahmadattan, the Chief Priest P.N. Mahesh lit the ceremonial lamp at 4:00 PM on Friday to mark the opening of the temple. Devotees will be able to begin their darshan from Saturday. There are no special rituals at the temple today. The new Chief Priest S. Arun Kumar Namboothiri and Malikappuram Chief Priest Vasudevan Namboothiri will assume office at 6:00 PM today. The new priests will open the temple doors at 3:00 AM on Saturday, officially starting the Mandala pilgrimage season.
Meanwhile, this time, the darshan hours have been extended from 16 hours to 18 hours. A facility will be available for 80,000 devotees daily, with an additional 70,000 devotees through virtual queue bookings. There will be no spot bookings. Instead, those arriving directly at the temple can make bookings at live online counters at Pampa, Vandiperiyar, and Erumeli.
To accommodate the larger crowds, additional resting areas have been set up at Pampa for pilgrims. Six extra resting shelters have been added, including a German-style shelter. It is expected that around 8,000 people can safely wait at Pampa during peak time.
