The Sabarimala Ayyappa temple
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president K. Jayakumar on Friday met Devaswom Minister K. Muraleedharan at his office and briefed him on the preparations for the forthcoming Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrimage at Sabarimala, signalling an effort to bring the government and the Board on the same page, after weeks of differences over arrangements at the Ayyappa temple.
The meeting, which lasted for over 15 minutes, assumes significance as the Minister had been quite vocal in his criticism of the TDB over the alleged delays in preparations for the pilgrimage and especially over the complaints about the shortage of Aravana prasadam.
The ice between the two seemed to have thawed, for Mr. Muraleedharan, who met reporters after the meeting, said that the TDB and the government would work together to ensure that the Sabarimala pilgrimage is a smooth affair this year and that the devotees would have no cause for complaint.
He said the TDB president had met with the Chief Minister too and had given his assurance about working with the government to see that the devotees faced no hardships during the pilgrimage.
From November 16
With the pilgrimage season scheduled to begin on November 16, the differences that cropped up between the TDB and the Dewaswom Minister over pilgrimage preparations were beginning to give rise to apprehensions on various counts.
The complaints over the recent shortage of Aravana had been a flashpoint. Mr. Jayakumar had attributed it to an unexpected surge in the number of devotees, that too at a time when the Aravana production unit was under maintenance, in preparation for the enhanced production requirements for the pilgrimage season.
However, Mr. Muraleedharan was sceptical about the timing chosen by TDB for the repairs, when the temple had opened for pre-Mandalam season pujas. He said the board should have maintained adequate stock before scaling down production, especially when pilgrims are known to flock to the temple when it opens for the pre-Mandala season pujas.
Mr. Muraleedharan had also maintained that the Aravana scarcity had reflected poorly on the UDF government and that the government would hold those responsible for the lack of oversight which distressed thousands of devotees.
Aravana production
The board has since announced measures to prevent a repeat of the shortage during the main pilgrimage season. Daily Aravana production at the Sannidhanam is proposed to be raised from around 2.6 lakh tins to 3.6 lakh tins, while the TDB plans to have a buffer stock of 75 lakh tins before the temple opens for the Mandalam season.
It had also promised that pending tenders would be completed by mid-October and that all preparations would be in place by the end of October. Mr. Jayakumar had also announced an AI-enabled crowd-monitoring mechanism at Nilackal to regulate pilgrim movement.
Mr. Jayakumar has consistently denied that there is a confrontation between the board and the government and had described the differences as just gaps in communication. The Chief Minister too has said that the government would not enter into a confrontation with the Board during the pilgrimage season.
Published – September 25, 2026 07:53 pm IST
