Kerala :A temple official said that the earlier darshan timings were 3 AM to 1 PM and 4 PM to midnight,but due to the huge influx of devottees at the temple,it was decided to change the timings of the second half to 3PM to 11 PM. With an increase in faith at the famed Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala here during this year’s Mandalam Makaravilakku pilgrimage, in the absence of the covid-19 restrictions ,the temple authorities decided to “advance” the timing when Darshan begins in the second half of the day.
A temple official on Tuesday said that the earlier darshan timings were 3 AM to 1:00 PM. and 4:00 PM. to midnight,but due to the huge influx of devottees at the temple,.
Since November 16, when the doors of the temple opened for devotees, over 3 lakhs pilgrims have arrived for darshan till Monday evening, the official said
An official said “yesterday there were 70,000 devotees. For today there are 60,000 bookings via virtual queue and in addition there would be spot bookings also”. “Therefore we decided to advance the timings in the second half of the day”,he added
On the eve of the 41 day long annual mandala Pooja festival ,Kerala Devaswom Minister K. Radhakrishnan had said unlike the last 2 years, when due to strict COVID-19 guidelines the devotees were limited around 30,000 each day, this year there were no limits on the number of pilgrims who can come for Darshan .Therefore, an increase of 40 to 50 percent in the number of devotees was expected in this year .
The 41 days long Mandala Pooja festival began on November 17 and will conclude on December 27.The temple will be opened again on December 30 for the Makaravilakku pilgrimage, which will end on January 14, 2023.The shrine will be closed on January 20,2023 concluding the program season.
