Sabarimala temple closes today

PAMPA: Sabarimala temple will shut Sunday morning after the 60-day tumultuous season over the entry of women of menstrual age defined as between ten and 50.

The priests will close the sanctum after regular pujas and rituals at 6.30am.

The Mandala-Makaravilakku season started a few weeks after the Supreme Court lifted the age barrier had ended on January 14, but temple remained open for monthly pujas.

The Thiruvabharanam procession to take back to Pandalam will follow. The chief priest will give the key to the Pandalam royal family, and they will keep it with the Travancore Devaswom Board.

On  Saturday at 9.30 pm, Guruti ritual was performed at Malikappuram after the closure of all temples. 

The season opened on October 17 with Thulamasa puja as mob violence continued all the way to Sannidhanam forcing the police to declare prohibitory orders. 
It caught international attention protesters mobbing women journalists and pilgrims. 

Right from Madhavi, an Andhra native who came with her relatives for darshan on the first day, more than a dozen women faced mob fury. 
However, women continued attempts to break barriers. Kanaka Durga, 40, and Bindu Ammini, 41, entered the hill shrine on January 2, making history, though undercover.

Then Manju, a Dalit activist from Kollam, made it daubing her hair to look like an old lady. The government's claim of 51 young women entering the temple also fell through with many on its list denying it. On October 18, the mob stopped Suhasini Raj, a New York Times reporter, at Marakkoottam. 

On the next day, police escorted activist Rehna Fathima and internet TV journalist Kavita Jakkala n their riot gears to Nadapadal close to Sannidhanam. 

They could not move forward despite a fervent appeal by IG S. Sreejith. The supreme priest threatened to close the sanctum if they enter, some squatted guarding the 18 sacred steps preventing their entry. On the same day, the police foiled the bid of Mary Sweety, 46, of Thiruvananthapuram.