Devotees Flock to Sabarimala for Ayyappa Darshan

Sabarimala is resonating with the chants of Lord Ayyappa as a massive number of devotees have arrived at the sacred shrine. With the influx of pilgrims, the wait time for darshan has extended to nearly 10 hours. Devotees are lining up from Sannidhanam to Pamba, reflecting the overwhelming turnout since the commencement of the Mandala Puja season.

To manage the crowds, the Travancore Devaswom Board has implemented various arrangements. The board has made time-slot booking mandatory for darshan and extended the temple timings to 18 hours daily. Additionally, virtual queue bookings have been introduced, with 30,000 devotees securing slots on the first day itself.

This year, the temple authorities plan to facilitate darshan for 80,000 devotees daily. Of these, 70,000 can pre-book their virtual queue tickets online, while the remaining 10,000 tickets will be distributed at special counters set up in three locations at Sabarimala.