Lakhs witness makara jyothi

SABARIMALA: Ayyappa devotees on Tuesday jostled to get a glimpse of Makarajyothi, the holy flame that flickered in the dusking sky above Ponnambalamedu, a summit several kilometres away from Sabarimala shrine. Thousands of pilgrims had set up camps near the shrine and at adjoining places for viewing the Jyoti. The Makara Jyoti was sighted after evening pooja and special ‘deeparadhana’.

Heavy inflow of devotees was continuing to the Sabarimala shrine even late on Monday evening. They wanted to be at Sannidhanam, the abode of Lord Ayyappa, on the day of the ultimate event of the 66-day annual pilgrimage season. Pilgrims had to stand in queue for hours to cover the long trek to Sannidhanam from Pampa, the base camp for the mountainous pilgrimage centre.