Good news for Lord Ayyappa devotees. Devotees of Lord Ayyappa visiting the famous Sabarimala temple during the current Manadala-Makaravillaku Festival can get their temple prasadam coupons from various branches of Dhanalakshmi Banks across the country.
Kerala Devaswom Minister G Sudhakaran on Sunday handed over the prasdam coupons to bank Managing Director Amithab Chathurvedi at a function held at the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) headoffice here.
It was for the first time that Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) had made this type of arrangement for distribution of prasadam coupons. Last year devotees faced shortage of 'prasadam', forcing the authorities to restrict its supply.
Coupons would be sold for "Aravana", "Appam" and "Modakam" prasadams through the bank branches.There is a huge demand for the Prasadams during the two-month long annual ‘Manadala-Makaravillaku’ Festival.
The devotees can purchase coupons from any branch of Dhanalakshmi Bank and receive Prasadam from the counters of Bank in Sabarimala.
The coupons were handed over to the bank by G. Sudhakaran, Minister of Devaswom, Government of Kerala at a function organized at the head quarters of Travancore Devaswom Board at Thiruvanthapuram. The coupons were received by P.G. Jayakumar, General Manager of Dhanalakshmi Bank.
Sabarimala Manadala-Makaravillaku Festival
The pilgrimage begins in the month of November and ends in January. The temple attracts pilgrims not only from the southern states of India, but also from other parts of the country and abroad.
The shrine gets thronged with devotees especially during the main pilgrim season from November to January.
Mandalapooja (Nov.17th) and Makaravilakku (Jan.14th) are the two main events of the pilgrim season. The temple stays closed during the rest of the year except for the first five days of every Malayalam month and during Vishu (April).
