Sabarimala Temple opens |
Marking the beginning of a pilgrim season, the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala in India opened for the annual Mandalakala-Makaravillakku festival on Sunday evening. However, the festival is scaled down due to the Covid pandemic. Devotees will be allowed to visit the temple from Monday morning, while the Mandalapooja will be performed on December 26. The doors to the Sanctum Sanctorum were opened on Sunday and the lamps were lit. The number of visitors was limited to 1,000 per day and Travancore Devaswom Board had earlier announced that the number of pilgrims visiting the temple on Mandavilakku and Makaravilakku days will be increased to 5,000. Sabrimala came to the limelight last year after the Supreme Court had held that the centuries-old ban on women and girls aged 10 to 50 visiting the temple was illegal and unconstitutional. The Kerala police in defiance of the Supreme Court order stopped women pilgrims at Pamba, 5km from the hill-top temple of Lord Ayyappa, checked their documents for proof of age and allowed only those above 50 to proceed further. Heavy security arrangements are in place at Sabarimala. Around 1,400 police personnel has been deployed in the area near the sanctum. At Pamba and Nilackal, there are around 720 and 700 police personnel respectively on duty, and this includes around 250 women police officers. In addition, separate teams of Quick Reaction Force, Rapid Action Force, police commandos and National Disaster Response Force are also deployed at the Sannidhanam.
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