Vishu Pooja at Sabarimala Temple, Vishu festival at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple. Vishu celebrations at Sabarimala Temple. Vishukani Darshanam at the temple.
The eight day annual Vishu festival is grandly celebrated at the Sabarimala temple located in the district of Pathanamthitta in the state of Kerala in Southern India. The temple reopens for this purpose after a gap on April 11th between 4.30pm and 5.30pm as per the auspicious time.
The temple’s head priest reopens the sanctum sanctorum as per the Hindu tradition and custom with pujas and homams. With Ashtadravya Ganapati homom, the ritual starts. The temple’s head priest is known as Melsanthi.
On April 14, the Melshanti prepares the Vishukkani within the sanctum sanctorum. On
April 15, the darshan of the Vishukkani begins at 4am to 7am for the devotees and pilgrims. Later this will be successfully followed by Neyyabhishekam.
On all days, special and routine pujas such as Udayasthamana Puja and Padi Puja are held at this temple. On April 19, the shrine will be closed at 10 p.m and later on May 14, reopens for monthly pujas.
The list of daily rituals & timings at Sabarimala during the Vishu puja are as follows, Nirmalyadarshanam at 3.05 a.m, Neyyabhishekham at 3.15 a.m, Ganapathy homam at 3.20 a.m, Usha pooja at 7.30 a.m, Nada Closing at 1.30 p.m, Nada Opening at 4.00 p.m, Deeparadhana at 6.15 p.m, Athazha pooja at 11.00 p.m and Harivarasanam at 11.45 p.m.
It is to be highly noted that temple usually opens at 4.00am and closes at 11.00pm daily. During the peak rush hours, for the devotees and pilgrims, the timings might be altered in order to accommodate the large number of devotees and pilgrims. Only during certain auspicious and specific periods in a year, the temple is opened for darshan.