Trip To Sabarimala
During my recent trip to India, one of my agenda was to visit the holy shrine of sabarimala. I was joined by my co-brother and we decided to take the Kerala state RTC, as this is more convenient than taking a private car or tourist bus. Since the babari masjid demolishing day happened to be on 6th December, we proposed to go on 8th, to avoid rush due to extra security in place during these days.
I booked a bus leaving trivandrum at 10.20 in the night as this will give us sufficient margin to finish the pooja and complete the irumudi kettu.
The priest started his pooja at 7.30 pm, and irumudi kettu was completed by 8.30 pm which was followed by ayyappa bajans , ayyappa ashtotharam and finally deepa aradhana. Offerings includes vada, aravana, and panakam (special drink made from dry ginger ,jaggery and lemon juice.)
After finishing the dinner, we left home at 10.00 pm and reached bus station by 10.15 pm. The staff showed us our bus which was parked in the second row. After verifying our booking, the bus departed at 10.30 pm. The bus was booked to 75 percent of its capacity, and the remaining seats were taken by the traders and officials on duty at sannidhanam. Few passengers boarded from different stops enroute. The fare for one way is Rs 130 and total journey time is five and half hours. We reached pathanamthitta, the meeting point where all the routes will merge before taking the ghat road to pampa. What ever route you take, you have to reach this district capital, where the shrine is situated. We stopped for a short tea break and driver inspected the bus as he prepared to take the ghat road.
The bus left this station at 2.00am, slowly climbed the hill crossing the small towns like laha, nilakkal. Nilakkal situated around 7km from the pampa, is the location, where parking for the private buses coming from different states, located. The piligrims coming by these buses will be dropped in pampa, and these buses will return back to this parking ground. Special buses are arranged by KSRTC to ferry passengers from pampa to Nilakkel for pilgrims to board their buses after the darshan.
We reached pampa sharp 3.30 am. Pampa is the last place where the road to sabarimala ends. Irrespective of how you travel, you cannot go beyond this place in a motor vehicle. We went straight to BSNL exchange in pampa, refreshed our self, and proceeded to pampa river to have a holy bath. Sufficient water was flowing in the pampa river, and it was not so cold as expected. After finishing our bath, we started to climb the holy hill. The distance from pampa to sannidhanam is 4.5 KM. The pilgrims has to worship pampa ganapathy and get his blessing to have a safe climb as well as protection from the wild animals before climbing the hill. The first climb of 1km we reached neelimalai, then sharam kuthi, appachimedu. By this time we have covered 2km of total distance. Enroute lot of resting places, special oxygen parlor and drinking water are available to the needy. Special cardiological centres are also functioning, as many people reported difficulty in climbing the hill. After you climb the hill, you will reach a place called Marakootam, from where the road divides into two. One for going up and another for the pilgrims returing after darshan.
Devasom board recently installed barricade from Marakootam to Sharamkuthi, ( a distance of 2.5 KM) to control the flow of pilgrims entering the shrine. I will say this is the worst part of the journey, as you will be inside the barricade, with out any facility for your basic needs, no water, and full of rocky terrain. Now lot of complaints received from pilgrims to remove this barricade. We reached inside this barricade at 6.30 am and came out from this barricade at 9.30am. Imaging the situation where pilgrims where stranded inside with out water or food or facility to rest for more than 3 hours.
Total travel time from pampa to sannidanam varies from person to person and also depending on the crowd. I would say minimum 3 hrs walk during normal days and will go up to 10 hrs during the special days. For pilgrims who cannot climb themselves, dolly ( carried in a chair by 4 person) are available for an amount of 1600 Rs for two way journey.
We reached the Nada pandal ( a tent before entering the 18 steps) at around 10.00am. After crossing the metal detector, we broke coconut before climbing the pathinattam padi. Police were helping the pilgrims to climb these steps. The usual practice is once you climb the pathinattampadi, you have to go through another bridge, which is about 300m long before you could see the diety. However since we had special pass, we went directly inside and had an initial darsan around 10.30. Then we removed the materials from the irumudi kettu and ghee were given to the priest for the ghee abishekam. The remaining offerings were given to the respective places. We finished the darshan around 11.30 am. Then we had darshan at Malikapuram Devi and Nagaraja temple. We completed the darshan by 12.00 and went straight to aravana and appam distibution counter (where u will get prasadam) . The cost of aravana for a tin is Rs 50 and one packet of appam cost 20 Rs. We managed to get 4 packets.
In the meanwhile my legs started paining, as we did not stop any where till we finish the darsanam for the last 8 hrs. I requested my co brother to stay for few hour. However he declined saying that if we take rest, then it will be impossible to descent and we may miss the return bus. So unwillingly I started to descent at 13.00 . On our way we had small refreshment from a shop.
The descent was more difficult than ascent. By this time the sun at its peak, and stones were very hot for the bare foot to step in. Any way we managed to reach pampa at 15.30. Again we went back to BSNL exchange, and took some short break, before boarding the bus on our way back to Trivandrum.
We reached Trivandrum at 21.00hrs. I must salute the pilgrims from andhra and karnataka, who take much pain and effort and their devotion, to see the darsan of Lord Ayyappa.
What ever be the difficulty one should atleast visit this holy shrine once in a life time. This is my 4th visit and looking forward for my next opportunity for the HOLY DARSHAN.
I booked a bus leaving trivandrum at 10.20 in the night as this will give us sufficient margin to finish the pooja and complete the irumudi kettu.
The priest started his pooja at 7.30 pm, and irumudi kettu was completed by 8.30 pm which was followed by ayyappa bajans , ayyappa ashtotharam and finally deepa aradhana. Offerings includes vada, aravana, and panakam (special drink made from dry ginger ,jaggery and lemon juice.)
After finishing the dinner, we left home at 10.00 pm and reached bus station by 10.15 pm. The staff showed us our bus which was parked in the second row. After verifying our booking, the bus departed at 10.30 pm. The bus was booked to 75 percent of its capacity, and the remaining seats were taken by the traders and officials on duty at sannidhanam. Few passengers boarded from different stops enroute. The fare for one way is Rs 130 and total journey time is five and half hours. We reached pathanamthitta, the meeting point where all the routes will merge before taking the ghat road to pampa. What ever route you take, you have to reach this district capital, where the shrine is situated. We stopped for a short tea break and driver inspected the bus as he prepared to take the ghat road.
The bus left this station at 2.00am, slowly climbed the hill crossing the small towns like laha, nilakkal. Nilakkal situated around 7km from the pampa, is the location, where parking for the private buses coming from different states, located. The piligrims coming by these buses will be dropped in pampa, and these buses will return back to this parking ground. Special buses are arranged by KSRTC to ferry passengers from pampa to Nilakkel for pilgrims to board their buses after the darshan.
We reached pampa sharp 3.30 am. Pampa is the last place where the road to sabarimala ends. Irrespective of how you travel, you cannot go beyond this place in a motor vehicle. We went straight to BSNL exchange in pampa, refreshed our self, and proceeded to pampa river to have a holy bath. Sufficient water was flowing in the pampa river, and it was not so cold as expected. After finishing our bath, we started to climb the holy hill. The distance from pampa to sannidhanam is 4.5 KM. The pilgrims has to worship pampa ganapathy and get his blessing to have a safe climb as well as protection from the wild animals before climbing the hill. The first climb of 1km we reached neelimalai, then sharam kuthi, appachimedu. By this time we have covered 2km of total distance. Enroute lot of resting places, special oxygen parlor and drinking water are available to the needy. Special cardiological centres are also functioning, as many people reported difficulty in climbing the hill. After you climb the hill, you will reach a place called Marakootam, from where the road divides into two. One for going up and another for the pilgrims returing after darshan.
Devasom board recently installed barricade from Marakootam to Sharamkuthi, ( a distance of 2.5 KM) to control the flow of pilgrims entering the shrine. I will say this is the worst part of the journey, as you will be inside the barricade, with out any facility for your basic needs, no water, and full of rocky terrain. Now lot of complaints received from pilgrims to remove this barricade. We reached inside this barricade at 6.30 am and came out from this barricade at 9.30am. Imaging the situation where pilgrims where stranded inside with out water or food or facility to rest for more than 3 hours.
Total travel time from pampa to sannidanam varies from person to person and also depending on the crowd. I would say minimum 3 hrs walk during normal days and will go up to 10 hrs during the special days. For pilgrims who cannot climb themselves, dolly ( carried in a chair by 4 person) are available for an amount of 1600 Rs for two way journey.
We reached the Nada pandal ( a tent before entering the 18 steps) at around 10.00am. After crossing the metal detector, we broke coconut before climbing the pathinattam padi. Police were helping the pilgrims to climb these steps. The usual practice is once you climb the pathinattampadi, you have to go through another bridge, which is about 300m long before you could see the diety. However since we had special pass, we went directly inside and had an initial darsan around 10.30. Then we removed the materials from the irumudi kettu and ghee were given to the priest for the ghee abishekam. The remaining offerings were given to the respective places. We finished the darshan around 11.30 am. Then we had darshan at Malikapuram Devi and Nagaraja temple. We completed the darshan by 12.00 and went straight to aravana and appam distibution counter (where u will get prasadam) . The cost of aravana for a tin is Rs 50 and one packet of appam cost 20 Rs. We managed to get 4 packets.
In the meanwhile my legs started paining, as we did not stop any where till we finish the darsanam for the last 8 hrs. I requested my co brother to stay for few hour. However he declined saying that if we take rest, then it will be impossible to descent and we may miss the return bus. So unwillingly I started to descent at 13.00 . On our way we had small refreshment from a shop.
The descent was more difficult than ascent. By this time the sun at its peak, and stones were very hot for the bare foot to step in. Any way we managed to reach pampa at 15.30. Again we went back to BSNL exchange, and took some short break, before boarding the bus on our way back to Trivandrum.
We reached Trivandrum at 21.00hrs. I must salute the pilgrims from andhra and karnataka, who take much pain and effort and their devotion, to see the darsan of Lord Ayyappa.
What ever be the difficulty one should atleast visit this holy shrine once in a life time. This is my 4th visit and looking forward for my next opportunity for the HOLY DARSHAN.
Comments
I just now read your article. Very interesting. I thought you went to Sabrimala in civil dress. I never thought you had taken the diksha. I really feel sorry that I could not visit sabrimala when three/four years back you invited me.
regards
vidya chittappa