Sabarimala, situated in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, used to reverberate with the chants of Swami Saranam... by scores of devotees when the Ayyappa temple opens for the monthly rituals in the initial days of every Malayalam month. But, COVID-19 has changed all that.

After the conclusion of the monthly rituals on April 14, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) closed the shrine for pilgrims in accordance with the lockdown norms that require places of worship not to allow public gatherings.

Now, the entire Sannidhanam wears a near-deserted look.

The otherwise-crowded sopanam where devotees impatiently jostle to have the darshan of the deity remains empty even when main rituals are held.

Rituals continue

During the lockdown, the temple opens at 5 a.m. and closes after completing Ganapati homom, abhishekom, ushapuja and utchapuja at 10 a.m. In the afternoon, the temple opens at 5 p.m. and closes after deeparadhana and athazhapuja at 7.30 p.m.

For this month, Tantri (chief priest) Kandararu Maheswararu Mohanararu and Melsanthi (head priest) A.K. Sudheer Namboodiri performed the routine rituals on all five days.

Devaswom executive officer Rajendraprasad told The Hindu that a maximum of five temple staff are permitted at the sopanam during the puja.

“Now, the deity is clearly visible even from the foot of the temple mast. The Vishu festival was not celebrated in April and the 10-day annual temple was deferred. This has left scores of Ayyappa devotees dejected, leaving a huge revenue loss to the TDB,” said Sunilkumar, TDB assistant engineer at Sabarimala.

Online Vazhipadu

Mr Rajendraprasad said the TDB has received orders worth nearly ₹1 lakh online for performing various offerings.

The board has announced online bookings for 11 offerings such as pushparchanas, ghee lamp, Ganapati homom, and Bhagavathy seva.

The board’s revenue collection by way of online vazhipadu bookings is around ₹2 lakh during the past two monthly puja.

TDB expenditure

However, the TDB has to pay not less than ₹3.5 lakh a month towards energy cost alone to the Kerala State Electricity Board during the off-season and ₹1.5 crore a month during the annual pilgrimage season, he said.

The five-day monthly rituals at Sabarimala in the Malayalam month of Edavom came to a close on Tuesday.