Devotees immerse in river Pampa

  • 5 years ago
Devotees taking holy dip in River Pampa

The Pamba River (also called Pampa river) is the third longest river in the South Indian state of Kerala after Periyar and Bharathappuzha and the longest river in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore. Sabarimala temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa is located on the banks of the river Pamba.

The temple located in Kerela's Panthnamthitta district in South India, India. One of the most famous temple pilgrimages in South India, South Asia, India. This is a kanniayyappan, first time pilgrims' ritual; cermony. Before they begin the final stage of pilgrimage, the kanniayyappans throw sprears, trishul, trident, is called saramkuthi. At sabaripeedom, place where the coconut lands, the pilgrims break the cermonial coconut before starting the pilgrimage up the mountain. Pilgrims carry irumudikettu on their heads which they cannot put down till they reach the temple.The pilgrims make an ardous trek through the jungle to get to the temple. Pilgrims wear safron clothing.Hoards of pilgrims from all over South India and the World come for the pilgrimage. Due to the fact that the temple is located deep in the jungle, the temple is normally open only from November to January. This period is called mandalakkalam. This is the time of the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage must be done with bare feet. The local language is malayam and tamil but some do speak english.

The pilgrimage to Sabarimala is a singular example of a pilgrimage where pilgrims, without consideration of caste, creed, position or social status, go with one mind and one `mantra' dreaming constantly of the darshan of the presiding deity a the Holy Sannidhanam. 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.15th)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). Certain customs are to be strictly observed if one has to undertake a pilgrimage to Sabarimala. A pilgrim attending the Mandalapooja should observe austerities for 41 days. During this period, the pilgrim should abstain himself from non- vegetarian habits and cardinal pleasures.

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang (at) gmail.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com

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