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| Sabarai Mala 2025 Makara Vilakku festival clickastro.com/blog |
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| Sabari mala temple Makara Vilakku in.images.search.yahoo.com |
Makara Vilakku festival is a seven day event beginning from the day of makara Sankaranthi. The annual Sabari Mala pilgrimage to Lord Ayyappa temple of Kerala in the month of Margazhi (December-January) highlights the astronomical transition wherein days will be longer than the nights, heralding harvest and other agricultural activities.
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| sabarimala sri Ayyappa temple, Kerala mg.theweek.in |
Above image: The temple is situated atop the Sabarimala hill (part of Western Ghat Hills) in the village of Ranni-Perunad the Pathanamthitta district in the state of Kerala, India. The temple surrounded by 18 hills in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, is one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world, with an estimate of over 10 to 15 million devotees visiting every year. The Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa or Dharma Sastha Temple is dedicated to the god Ayyappan, who is also known as Dharma Shasta and is the son of the deities Shiva and Mohini (female avatar of the god Vishnu)..........
The Kerala state Government Police department made special arrangement with a big posse of 5000 police men with a view to managing the crowd and to avoid untoward incidents during the rush hours.
The customary annual sacred Thiruvabharanam religious procession, with security guards carrying the golden ornaments to be worn by lord Ayyappa during the Mandala puja from the Pandalam palace (custodians of the rare ornaments) covering roughly 83 km was received at Saramkuthy by the senior Devaswom Executive Officer. The temple priests, upon receiving adorned them on the idol of Sri Ayyappa by 6.30 pm, followed by the Maha Deeparadhana ritual.
After the Deeparadhana, the most important ritual, the Makara Jyothi was visible from the eastern Ponambalamedu hill. Parnashalas (temporary elevated shelters) were set up at vantage points at many locations where the Makara Jyothi could be viewed.
As for the visiting devotees from far and wide of south India and northern states, it was a rare opportunity to witness the divine Makara Jyothi, so many of them remained on the hill after completing the darshan at the temple. At Nilakkal, Pampa, and nearby areas entry to Sabarimala was restricted to pilgrims until noon because of over crowding.
Makaravilakku 2025 on January 14, at the celebrated Sabarimala temple went off well despite over crowding of devotees on the hill in Kerala. Makara Jyothi, a sacred phenomenon symbolizing the presence of Lord Ayyappa is closely associated with mandala Puja and it coincides with Makara Sankranti and marks the culmination of the annual pilgrimage season at Sabarimala.
