As pilgrims throng, collections go up in Sabarimala temple

As the festival season at Kerala's Sabarimala temple crossed the halfway mark, the total collections have gone up by Rs.14 crore to Rs.141 crore as compared to the peak festival season last year, according to temple authorities.

Though the temple opens for a few days every month, the peak festival season begins on the first day of every Malayalam month in November (this time it started Nov 17) and with a few days break in the last week of December, the season ends Jan 18.

The collection includes the money that gets dropped in the temple donation box and also through selling appom and aravana payasam (sweet rice pudding).

During the period, the sale of aravana reached Rs.54.31 crore while appom sales crossed Rs.10.32 crore.

Situated on the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats at an altitude of 914 metres, the Sabarimala temple is located four km from Pamba in Pathanamthitta district, around 100 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

The number of devotees has increased in the past few days.

According to official figures, over 4.5 million pilgrims visited the temple the last season and the authorities are expecting an increase of 10 percent this year.