Thousands of Ayyappa devotees witness ‘Makara Jyothi’

Sabarimala, Jan 14 (UNI) Thousands of Ayyappa devotees witnessed ‘Makara Jyothi’ here on Friday evening marking the end of two-month long pilgrim season at world famous Lord Ayyappa temple.
The Lord Ayyappa Idol was adorned with ‘Thiruvabharanam’ brought from Pandalam Valiyakoickal Sastha Temple, and the ‘Deeparadhana’ has been performed at 1842 hrs.
Coinciding with Deeparadhana, the auspicious ‘Makara Star’ was seen in the eastern horizon. Soon after Deeparadhana, ”Makara Jyothi”, the celestial light, flickered thrice at Ponnambalamedu, a distant hill deep inside the forests facing Sabarimala.
After that devotees moved towards the temple for Ayyappa darshan. Thousands of pilgrims danced in ecstasy chanting in pitched tone ‘Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa.’
Earlier, the Sankrama Pooja was performed at 1429 hrs during the transit of Sun from Dhanu Rasi to Makram Rasi.
As part of Makara Sankrama Pooja, a ‘Neyyabhishekam’ was performed by using the ‘ghee’ brought from erstwhile Travancore Royal Palace.
The ‘Thiruvabharanam’ procession, set off from Pandalam carrying the sacred jewellery, reached this evening at Sannidhanam where it was received by the top officials of the Police Department and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).
The Temple Tanthri and the Head Priest received the ‘Thiruvabharanam’ box at the Sopanam.
The Police and the Forest departments have identified a few places where the pilgrims assembled in large numbers to witness the Makara Jyothi.
After the customary holy Darshan to be facilitated exclusively for the royal representative from the Pandalam Palace on January 20, the temple will be closed marking the culmination of the annual Makaravilakku festival.
Hundreds of police personnel were deployed at Sannidhanam, Pamba, Nilakkal to manage the crowds in connection with the Makaravilakku festival.