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Pilgrimage
to Sabarimala temple begins Thiruvananthapuram: Thousands of Hindu devotees in southern India have started an arduous 41-day penance pilgrimage to Sabarimala temple on the western Ghats of Kerala. Situated at the top of the Sabarimala Hill, the Sabarimala temple is located at about 4,000 feet above sea level. One has to undertake an arduous trek of more than six kilometres to reach the temple through dense forests. Devotees begin the penance (Vrathom in local parlance), wearing a string of beads and observe abstinence. Alcohol, smoking, non-vegetarian food are considered taboo. The festival known as Mandalam-Makaravilakku begins from the first day of Malayalam month, Vrishchikom, in the mid of November (November 16 this year) and it will culminate on January 14, 2006. It is the first phase of the ceremony that takes 41 days to complete. During the "Vrathom" period normally all Ayyappas (the devotees who undertake the penance are called so) wear only black clothes and take at least 41 days of penance to visit the temple. "I go to Sabarimala temple on the holy pilgrimage every year and my son too has been accompanying me for the last many years. We abstain from all bad habits and pray for the Lord's grace. We follow all the austerities and carry the 'Irumudi Kettu' (bag with offerings for the god)," says K Mohanan Nair, a devotee. "It is a period of abstinence from bad habits, drinking (alcohol), non-vegetarian food and of paying obeisance and total devotion to God. The devotee symbolically pledges this when he or she wears the blessed rosary beads around his/her neck," says Radhakrishnan Nampoothiri, a melsanthi, the head priest in the Lord Sastha Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. During this ceremony of annual pilgrimage more than ten million devotees visit the hill temple of Sabarimala. This pilgrimage to the Sabarimala temple is viewed as one of the biggest religious congregations after Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The ayyappas to Sabarimala come from all over the country, most of them belong to Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. People from all religions visit this Ayyappa temple in the Sabari hills. |
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