Pathanamthitta, Saturday 13 March 2010: The Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala will be opened for the monthly rituals on Sunday afternoon.

According to Sabarimala Devaswom Executive Officer V.S. Jayakumar, temple Melsanthi G.Vishnu Namboodiri will open the sanctum sanctorum at 5.30 p.m. on Sunday for the monthly rituals in the Malayalam month of Meenom that begins the next day.

The rituals will begin with the Tantri, Kandararu Maheswararu, performing the Ashtadravya Ganapati homam, followed by Ashtabhishekom, on March 15 morning. Sahasrakalasabhishekom and Kalabhabhishekom will be the special rituals to be held at the Ayyappa shrine during the five-day monthly puja period.

Jayakumar said Padipuja, Udayashtmanapuja and Pushpabhishekom would be held on all the five days, from March 15 to 19.

The 10-day annual festival at the Ayyappa shrine will be held from March 20 to 29, Jayakumar said. The kodiyettu ceremony marking the beginning of the annual festival will be held between 10.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. The Utsavabali ritual will be held at the Sannidhanam after the Utchapuja from March 21 to 28.

The Pallivetta ritual will be held at Saramkuthi on March 28 evening. The Pallivetta procession will be taken out from Saramkuthi to the Sannidhanam at midnight.

The temple festival will come to a close with the Arat ceremony on March 29. The presiding deity will be taken out in a procession to Pampa on the foothills of Sabarimala for the Arat ceremony after the Ushapuja in the morning. Jayakumar said the Arat ceremony would be held at a specially prepared Arat kadavu in the Pampa between 11 a.m. and 12 noon.

(News agency)