Trip to Sabarimala - July 2022

 Trip to Sabarimala - July 2022    👍👌

Well , this was the first  time I went to Sabarimala , so I was just a bit nervous. I had to go to a bunch of other holy places before we climbed the Sabarimala Mountain for real.. Me and my father left late at night and reached a temple called SoriMuthaiyyapan Koil where we saw the SoriMuthayyapan statue by early morning. We had a refreshing bath in a river nearby , the water was so cold ! After lunch , we left to Achan Koil where we had Ayyapan Darisanam. Peacocks were abundant in the area: 

By the time we reached Aryan Kavu , it was very late so we stayed nearby and had Swami Darisanam the next morning. After that , our group left for Kulathu Puzhai. We had Swami Darisanam and we also fed the fish in the KulathuPuzhai River nearby. The temple was very large , similar to the size of Achan Koil. 

Around Lunchtime , we reached Pandalam where we saw the Pandalam Koil and the Pandalam Palace which was where Ayyapan Stayed until the age of ten , raised by Pandalam Maha Raja and his wife. The house was very large and had many long , winding rooms , not to mention a set of stairs leading to the well which was very large.

We set foot at Pamba around late afternoon where we climbed the mountain and reached the top around late night. It was raining a lot and the path was slippery. We had Ayyapan Darisanam , it was very crowded. Monkeys were also present in the place , swinging happily from one branch to another , or relaxing on the telephone pole wires.
We stayed for the night in a rented , spacious hall. I Next morning , we had Swami Darishanam. By afternoon  , the rush of the crowd was gone and all was quiet.

After lunch , our group set off for Erumali. We reached at night and listened to the voice of Yesudas as he beautifully sang Harivasanam , praising Lord Ayyapa. After Dinner , we boarded the van and set off for home. We reached early morning , marking the end of the exciting trip. I enjoyed the pilgrimage very much , especially the bath in the river and climbing the mountain since there were many animals and insects I had never seen such as large as life beetles.