Pilgrims gather for Sabarimala ‘celestial light’, year after tragedy

Sabarimala, Jan 15 (IANS) A year after over 100 people died in a stampede after witnessing the Makara Jyothi, pilgrims in large numbers were stationed in and around Kerala’s Sabarimala temple to witness Sunday evening the ‘celestial light’ that appears on the horizon on Makara Sankranthi.
The light appears soon after dusk and to see this ‘miracle’, devotees, mostly from different parts of southern India, have taken vantage position at the temple top besides the surrounding hillsides.
Several measures have been taken by the administration taking into account the tragedy that took place at Pullumedu - a hillock near the famed temple - in which 102 pilgrims died in a stampede soon after devotees returned witnessing the celestial light last year.
“Police have made all the required arrangements to see that things are in place,” said an official attached to the Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), the custodian of the Sabarimala temple.
Special parking lots have been arranged, barricades set up and an estimated 3,000 security personnel are on duty to make the religious event a success.