Guwahati: In the midst of the ongoing annual pilgrimage season, the Sabarimala temple in Kerala continued to experience a significant increase of worshipers on Wednesday morning. The management committee of the Temple provided this information.
According to committee officials, a large influx of worshipers visited the temple on December 11.
A maximum of 1.07 lakh worshipers went to the temple on December 12.
Prior to that, on December 13 and 14, the temple saw 77,216 and 64,617 pilgrims, respectively.
Over 1 lakh devotees flocked to the temple on December 12 and the temple received record bookings for the darshan of Lord Ayyappa.
“As many as 1,07,260 devotees made online bookings for the Lord Ayyappa’s darshan on the day,” they said.
In a similar vein, they claimed that on December 11th, over 60,000 people attended the temple.
Extensive security precautions were also taken by the temple management authorities to protect the safety of pilgrims in light of the high foot traffic.
“Special arrangements have been made at the temple in view of the heavy rush. Devotees are being escorted from Pampa to Sannidhanam in a controlled and segmented manner. Security personnel have been deployed at each point for this purpose,” Sabarimala Special Officer Harishchandra Naik said.
As a safety measure against any unfortunate incidence brought on by the crowding of devotees, segments are rotated.
Additionally, cookies and drinks are given to devotees in the line. In addition to the police, Naik added that RAF and NDRF men are also utilized to control traffic.
The two-month long pilgrimage season got underway on November 17 when the internet portals of the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala were made available to worshipers for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku festivities.
In the first six days of the pilgrimage season, more than 2.5 lakh people visited the Lord Ayappa Temple in Sabarimala in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district.
“2,61,874 pilgrims visited Sabarimala in the first six days of this pilgrim season. There are indications that the number of devotees will increase in the coming days,” Kerala Devaswom Department Minister K Radhakrishnan said.