The procession carrying the Thanka Anki will set off to Sabarimala from the Sree Parthasarathy temple at Aranmula on December 22.
According to the Travancore Devaswom Board, the holy attire will be kept for darshan at the Aranmula temple for about two hours from 5 a.m. on the day. Travancore Devaswom Board president K. Ananthagopan and others will be present when the procession sets off from the temple.
The procession, which will be accorded receptions at various points enroute to Pampa. It will reach Pampa on December 25. It will be accorded a reception at Sharamkuthi, before being taken to the Sabarimala temple by a team of designated TDB officials and representatives of various other departments.
The presiding deity at Sabarimala will be adorned with the Thanka Anki prior to Deeparadhana to be held in the evening. The ‘Mandalapuja’ at Sabarimala is to be performed on December 26 afternoon and the temple will close after the Athazhapuja on the same day, marking the culmination of the 41-day-long Mandalam season.
The temple will reopen for the Makaravilakku festival on December 30 evening and the devotees will be permitted to the hilltop from next day morning onward.
The ‘Thanka Anki’, weighing 453 sovereigns, was offered to the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple by the late Chithira Tirunaal Balarama Varma of the erstwhile Travancore royal kingdom in 1973.
