INDIA, November 18, 2025 (The Hindu): As hundreds of thousands of devotees queued up for darshan at the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta, Kerala, on the second day of the annual Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, there were reported complaints of lack of water for pilgrims standing in the line for several hours on Tuesday (November 18). Following the complaints and the large crowd of devotees, many of whom had cut the line, on the temple grounds, newly appointed Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president K. Jayakumar said 200 additional personnel have been assigned to reach out to the people in the queues and provide them with water. He also said that instructions have been issued to ensure devotees are able to steadily climb the 18 steps for the darshan and that no one cuts the lines to move in front.
“I have issued directions to ensure steady movement of the pilgrims and ensure no one cuts the line or queue. Such a large crowd should not have collected here,” he said. Mr. Jayakumar also said that he has issued directions to restrict the flow of devotees at Nilackal to reduce the crowd of pilgrims at Pamba and ensure they can complete their pilgrimage quickly without having to wait three-five hours in queues. “People can wait at Nilackal. There are facilities there for that. Also, will set up seven additional spot booking counters there so that devotees do not have to come to Pamba for that. We will also explore the possibility of capping the number of spot bookings in a day,” he said. Nearly 200,000 devotees have arrived at the shrine till Tuesday noon after the temple opened on November 16 evening for the Makaravilakku pilgrimage season.
Additional report: