Thiruvananthapuram: Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala opened with high religious fervor on Saturday. The Ayyappa mandala poojas performed 41 days from November 16^th to December 27^th. Melshanti  Vasudevan Nambutiri opened the sanctum sanatorium at 05:00pm in the presence of tantri Mahesh Mohanaru.

          The regular poojas signaling the start of the pilgrimage season will be performed from early Sunday, the first day of the Malaya Month of Vrushikam.  A K Sudhir Nambutri was installed as a new Melshanti by performing Kalaashabhishekam before the moola mantram of Lord Ayyappa was passed on to him. He will perform regular poojas from 04:00am on Sunday.

         The first phase of the Lord Ayyappa 41 days Mandala pooja, it will culminate with the mandala pooja on December 27^th. It will be followed by Makara Villakku with the Jyothi darshan as its high point on January 15^th. Renaissance valleys protection committee general secretary Punnala Sri Kumar criticized the Devostam Ministers stand and said that his statement that women who intend to visit Sabarimala to obtained a special order from the Supreme Court was anticonstitutional.

           The Kerala endowments minister K. Surendran appealed the women, save the sanctity of Lord Ayyappa’s temple with its customs and traditions. Don’t try to make a moment of high handedness. The police sent return three women of Andhra Pradesh and 12 others without the Darshan of Lord Ayyappa and entry into the temple.