The hill abode of Lord Ayyappa was opened on Sunday evening for the celebration of the annual Niraputhari festival, slated to be held on Monday. Melsanthi G Balamurali opened the sreekovil at 5.30 p.m. in the presence of thantri Kandararu Maheswararu.
Niraputhari ceremony
Sabarimala devaswom executive officer said that the ceremony as part of Niraputhari would be held between 5.30 and 6.10 a.m. on Monday.
As part of the festival, the procession carrying paddy spikes from Lower Thirumuttam would be taken out at 5 a.m. On reaching in front of the golden flagmast, thantri Maheswararu and melsanthi Balamurali would lead the procession to the sreekovil after circumambulating the sreekovil, Sankaranarayana Pillai said. The thantri would perform poojas on the paddy spikes and distribute the paddy spikes to the devotees gathered to witness the ceremony.
The uniqueness of the Niraputhari festival is that the offering of the ‘Nivedyam’ to Lord Ayyappa during the usha pooja would be the rice made out of the paddy brought for the ritual.
Laksharchana, sahasrakalasam and kalabhabhishekam would be the special rituals to be held as part of the Niraputhari festival.
Udaysthamana pooja, pushpabhishekam and padi pooja would be the other poojas to be conducted.
The temple would be closed on Monday. The temple would be re-opened for the five-day monthly poojas for the first Malayalam month of Chingam on August 16 evening.
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