AUTO REFRESH ON According to police officials, no women devotee approached them for assistance in facilitating their entry in Sabarimala Temple.
The doors of Sabarimala temple opened on Monday for a two-day special puja amid unprecedented security over apprehension of protests by those opposing the Supreme Court order allowing women of all age groups into the shrine.
This is the second time Ayyappa's temple opened in three weeks.
Today, the temple is open for "Sree Chitira Atta Thirunal" puja to mark the birth anniversary of the last king of the princely state of Travancore Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma.
Sabarimala virtually turned into a fortress with hundreds of police personnel, including armed commandos, dotting the place where surveillance cameras and mobile phone jammers were installed.
Thousands of pilgrims entered the temple as temple tantri (head priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru and melshanti (chief priest) Unnikrishnan Namboothiri jointly opened the portals of the sanctum sanctorum around 5 pm.
No special puja was performed Monday and temple doors were closed at 10 pm.