Thiruvabharanam ghoshayathra, procession of carrying the sacred jewels

Thiruvabharanam ghoshayathra, procession from valiyakoyikkal palace pandalam

Thiruvabharanam ghoshayathra is the core part during mandalakalm, this is the procession of ornaments from pandalam palace. pandalam palace is the child home of lord ayyappa, he born as the son of lord shiva and vishnu. lord vishnu as mohini is the mother of ayyappa. they give the baby for the king of pandalam palace rajasekhara varma. he got him from the forest. rajasekahara varma and his wife are the childless couple. It is a holy procession carrying the holy ornaments of Lord sastha, which starts from Valiyakoyikkal Dharmasastha Kshethram at Pandalam in Pathanamthitta district. The procession by walk reaches Sabarimala on Makaravilakku day so as to adorn the ornaments on the idol of Lord Ayyappan.

During the makaravilakku day deeparadhana, lord ayyappa gives blessings to devotees in the full attire, by wearing the jewels from pandalam palace, after completing the events of makaravilakku it bring back to the palace in similar way, this process takes place annually since years back. the holy jewels are kept in three wooden boxes including diamond, gold, silver etc. except this images of elephant, horse and leopard are also added to this. these these boxes are collectively called thiruvabharana petti, velli petti and kodi petti. all of it are very ancient. the eldest member of the royal family of pandalam considered as the king, he will take the leadership for proceeding thiruvabharanam ghoshayathra.

Thiruvabharanam ghoshayathra starts on 12th january, it takes two day to reach at the temple. the journey team will take rest at the sathrams. travancore devaswom board and ayyappa seva sangham will take the administration of the event. the members of thiruvabharanam ghoshayathra will take the traditional route from pandalam to locate at the destination. it is about 83 km to cover the journey by foot.