Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa... Come the Malayalam month of Vrischikom and the holly hill of Sabari reverberates with chants of the Sarana Mantharam. Hundreds of thousands of Ayyappa devotees undertake the pilgrimage to the holy mountain shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala, during this two-month-
long pilgrim season,
to attain his blessings.
The feeling of ecstacy and spiritual elevation one attains after visiting the Sabarimala Ayyappa shrine is something indescribable. The trek begins early in the morning and the pilgrims feel a kind of traquility that words can hardly describe while traversing through the forests. With their minds focussed on Lord Ayyappa, they feel they are transported into another realm of spirituality.
The pilgrims with their foreheads smeared with the sacred ash climb the holy 18-steps and reach the Sopanam of the temple and turn ecstatic with momentary darshan of the presiding deity.
Swamiye
Saranam Ayyappa
PADIPOOJA
Swami Saranam...
For pilgrims to the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, this is the password to devotional fruition and spiritual fulfilment. The 40 km Erumeli-Sabarimala stretch, on of the oldest and rugged routes to the age-old hill top shrine, criss-cross through thick forests, dangerous slopes and treacherous terrain. Only the most gritty go through this path, for the endeavour may well be a discovery of the real meaning of the phrase, Kallum Mullum Kalikku Metha.
P J Narayanan Namboodiri (41)
of Maramattathu Mana,
Vaikkom is� the melsanthi of
Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.
The season will officially commence with the opening of the sanctum sanctorum by the new melsanthi at 4 am on November 17, the first day of Vrischikom. The 10-day festival will begin with 'Kodiyettu' on December 12. It will conclude with 'arattu' in the Pampa on December 21. Mandalapooja� season will end on December 27. The shrine will remain closed for a few days before it reopens for Makaraavilakku season on January 1. Makaravilakku, the high point of the season, falls on January 1. However, the temple will remain open till January 20.