Southern States
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Kerala
Thiruvabharanam procession begins
PATHANAMTHITTA, JAN. 12. The annual procession carrying the sacred Thiruvabharanam to Sabarimala has set off from the Pandalam Valiyakoickal Sastha Temple in an atmosphere charged with devotion.
Thousands of devotees from different parts of the State congregated on the Sastha temple precincts today to have a glimpse of the sacred attire offered to the Sabarimala Ayyappa shrine by the former king of Pandalam who is also the legendary foster father of Lord Ayyappa.
The Thiruvabharanam was kept for darshan at the Sastha temple till 12 p.m. and the Melsanthi performed poojas at 12-30 p.m. The procession carrying the Thiruvabharanam in three wooden boxes was set off with the Pandalam Raja, the eldest male member of the royal family of the erstwhile Pandalam kingdom, handing over the ceremonial sword to the royal representative, P. Kerala Varma, of the Puthenkoickal palace.
The Devaswom Minister, G. Karthikeyan, Ramesh Chennithala, MP, the Travancore Devaswom Board member, D. Sasidharan, were also present on the occasion.
The royal representative sought the blessings of the eldest female member of the royal family at the Kaippuzha Kottaram and the temple dedicated to Mannandi Bhagavathi at Kulanada on his way to Sabarimala.
The procession will halt at Ayroor Puthiyakavu Devi Temple later in the night and will proceed to Laha via Vadasserikkara and Perinad the next day. The procession will reach Pampa on January 14 afternoon.
The TDB officials, P. Balachandran, M.K. Appukuttan, Vijayakumar Sarma and Santhosh Kumar, and the Devaswom Samrakshana Samithi president, Vettoor Jyothiprasad, also accompanied the procession.
The royal representative will halt at Pampa and the Thiruvabharanam will be taken to the Sannidhanam to decorate the Ayyappa idol before the deeparadhana at 6-30 p.m. that coincides with the sighting of the `Makara Jyothi'.
The Thiruvabharanam procession sets off from the Pandalam Valiyakoickal Sastha Temple on Saturday and (right) the royal representative, P. Kerala Varma, escorting the procession in a palanquin.
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