SANNIDHANAM: The Sree Dharmasastha Temple here opened for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season amid unprecedented police security on Friday evening.This is the first annual pilgrim season after the September 28 Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to visit the temple. The shrine had earlier opened for the puja on the first of the Malayalam month of Thulam, and Chithira Aatta visesham.Melsanthi AV Unnikrishnan Namboothiri opened the sanctum sanctorum at 5pm, in the presence of chief priest Kandararu Rajeevaru and Travancore Devaswom Board officials.The installation of new chief priests of the main temple and Malikapuram temple, VN Vasudevan Namboothiri and MN Narayanan Namboothiri, respectively, were held later in the day.The new melshanthi (head priest) will open the sanctum sanctorum on Saturday morning and the ‘neyyabhishekam’ offering will begin after the ‘ashtabhishekom’ at 4.30 am.On Friday evening, after the outgoing melshanthi had lit the lamp inside the sanctum sanctorum, tanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru gave ‘prasadam’ to the devotees.Later, the new melshanthis arrived with irumudi kettus (the two-chambered cloth bundle for carrying puja materials). The outgoing priest led them through the 18 holy steps to the shrine. The outgoing priest, after taking the new priest into the sanctum sanctorum, passed on the ‘moolamantra’ to him in front of the deity.The mandalapuja will be performed at the Ayyappa temple on December 27. Marking the closing of the 41-day mandalam festival, the temple would close after the Athazhapuja, later that evening.The temple would again be opened for the Makaravilakku festival on December 30 afternoon. Makaravilakku will be observed on January 14, 2019.Earlier, the temple premises wore a dull look. Devotees, who usually queued up by the morning itself, were allowed to proceed from Nilackal by 1.30pm. Only police personnel, temple staff, and journalists were seen in the ‘Nadapanthal’ during the day.Pilgrims braved heavy downpour to trek to Sabarimala from Pamba, and had also to endure the strict regulations put in place. Earlier, inspector-general of police Vijay Sakhare, in charge of security at Sannidhanam, reviewed the security arrangements. Barricades were set up in front of the holy steps, where protesters had camped during the Chithira Aatta visesham earlier this month.

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