Holy visit to Shabarimale

Lovely big team, friendly atmosphere, long way journey in train, holy spirit, excellent management, unlimited snacks / food during entire journey and overall wonderful darshana of Ayyappa Swamy. Indeed, a long long pending visit to Shabarimale is fulfilled on 16th February 2020. Thankful to the entire team and special thanks to my beloved friend Sudhakar, who made it to happen.

Shabarimale

Sometime it is unbelievable, in the first meet, when you feel a bonding friendship, which make you to feel long time with entire team. Neither there was age bar nor barricade of language. Spirit of the team is remarkable, co-ordination of the team members is extraordinary. Though they all from different location / industry / job, it is a live example of one united family.

Pampa River

Preparation of logistic initiated well in advance before 4 months. Journey is decided by Indian Railway. I came to know that, this is 12th year continuously travelling by train. The team is in touch with all friends and kept all updates. I was more eager to meet the entire new team, except Sudhakar & one more lovely friend Veerendra.

Below is the detailed itinerary / Trip schedule:

Day-1: 16.02.2020
- Pooja start from 8 am at Subramanya Nagar Temple
- Followed by Prasad around 12 Noon
- Reach KR Puram Railway Station at 5 pm
- Board the Garibrath Train to Cehngannur

Day-2: 17.02.2020
- Reach Early Morning to Chengannur 
- Chengannur to Pamba [Pampa] by Tempo Travel
- Hike Shabari Male [3.5 KMs]
- Relax at Dharmashala
- Have Darshana multiple time
- Prassada & relax for the day

Day-3: 18.02.2020
- Early Morning 5 am Swamy Darshana
- Start back towards Pampavana
- Board the TT to Chengannur
- Lunch & Shopping around Railway Station
- Board the Kanyakumari Express to Bengaluru

The planning was indeed very perfect. Not even a minute had any issue. This is my first travel where I have enjoyed journey without any hurdle.

Day - 1
Golden day arrived to meet all new friends on 16th February 2020 at Subramanya Nagar temple. Sudhakar asked me to wear Mala, but due to some unavoidable circumstances, I could not. Planning to wear in future soon.

Pooja @ Subramanyanagar Temple  Bangalore

Irumudi rituals is holy process which takes lot of time. Guruswamy blessed to all maladhari Swamy's. The process is continued till 1 noon, post Prasad is served to all.

                                         Pooja @ Subramanyanagar Temple  Bangalore


Now its time to move towards KR Puram Railway Station. We reached on time to KR Puram Railway Station. Final count is 25 friends out of 28 booked tickets. Garibrath train departed on time since the starting point. We all scattered in different bogies, it is quite tough to get tickets in one bogie for big team. Settled on our respective seats and small introduction among team members.

KR Puram Railway Station - Bangalore

                                           Team waiting @  KR Puram Railway Station 


Myself & Veeru are new to this group, rest are meeting regularly on Shabari holy trip. I am so excited to know about meeting yearly once without fail on this auspicious holy trip.

                                                  Selfie Before Departure at KR Puram 

Garibrath is completely AC bogies; there was very less movement of passenger between the compartments. Even the station stops were very less.

Journey is continued with lot of humors about previous travels / incidents. In between snacks added more joy to our travel.

              Lovely Dinner @ Coach 

Now the time to fill our hungry stomach with delicious parcel dinner. The captain of the team is assigned the responsibility to different volunteers. One team is taken the responsibility to serve the delicious food.

Variety delicious food made heavy and now the time to hug the bed. As the train is on pace towards Chengannuru, slowly down to deep sleep.

Day - 2


                                                         Sun raise

Day begin so early around 5 am, train was running on time. We all decided to get refresh in the train to avoid further delay to our journey.

We are in Kerala beautiful landscape of nature. Morning weather was pleasant, sun is raising across valley.


Reached Chengannur railway station at 7.15 am. I came to know that, Chengannuru to Pamba around 90 KMs and it is 3 hours journey in private vehicle.

                                                  Chengannur Railway Station

TT guy welcomed us at station. Team has booked one TT and Innova considering team size. We all settled in vehicle and chanting "Swamiye Sharanm Ayyappa" begin our journey.

                              Tempo Traveler - TT  journey to Shabarimale


After 30 minutes of journey, reached Arnamula, bank of Pampa river. Water level was not much, however, many devotees are taking holy bath. 

                                                                                River 
Spent couple of minutes to capture in camera. Noticed that, local people taking small boat to cross the river for everyday routine works.

                                                 Best Buddies 

Our leader gave us 15 minutes to finish the holy dip. One by one, dive in the river and finished the holy bath. The yummy breakfast [parcel] was ready, Chapati different curry filled our hungry stomach.

Yummy Breakfast

Now, we headed towards Arnamula Parthasarathy temple. Guruswamy briefed about this beautiful temple.

Old monument structure temple is very beautiful. The crowd was not much, had wonderful darshan and spent sometime in the premises. Indeed it is very beautiful temple.

Now times to move towards Shabarimale. Guruswamy enquired with someone about the Shabari darshan timings. It is knew that, temple closes at 12 Noon. We have decided to take relax drive, on the way pit stop for small break. Journey is continued with chanting of "Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa".

Short Break on the Way

Reached Pampa [Pambam] at 12 noon. Weather hot with crowded devotees Pamba welcomed us. Police are not allowed the vehicles beyond barricade. Very hot weather made very tough challenge to bare foot Swamy's.

                                                        Pumba 

We all rushed towards Ganapathy temple of Pamba. Shabari is around 3.5 KMs ascend. Guruswamy briefed about next journey, performed rituals before proceeding towards Swamy darshana.


Now the real hike begin towards Shabari. Hot weather, challenging hike, open to sky place made tough time to all. 


On the way, in between tree shadow and shed gave little relax. Watermelon, juice, buttermilk, Pineapple gave lot of energy to fight with hot weather. 


Taking multiple breaks finally reached the most awaited holy place Shabarimale.

                 Way to Civil Darshan                                          Way to Maledhari Darshan 

There are two different ways for Maledhari & non one. Maledhari get golden opportunity to pass through the 18 holy steps. Myself and Veerendra are non-Maledhari, we have taken different (Civil) route to take Swamy darshan. Finished the first Darshana of Swamy.

Inside the Temple

After Darshan we moved towards Dharmashale where pre-booked our accommodation. It is basic amenities of big hall, ideal place for trekkers like me.

Dharmashala

We all taken one more round of bath. Humidity was more, fans were running in the hall continuously. Now the Guruswamy is in preparation of rituals.

Evening Rituals

It is very special and curious rituals for me, never come across or known by anyone. Guruswamy performing the pooja so patience. After rituals once again headed towards to Swamy darshana.

Collecting Prasada

After Jyoti darshana, temple keep open 5 days of every month. We are here on 4th day, Usually crowed will be more on season. 

Crowed - On Peak Season

We are very much lucky since the rush was very less . we had taken multiple swamy darshan . We roamed around the premises, spent good time.                 

Evening Pooja

Now the time to have Prasad and retire for the day. There are different Trust offering free Prasad. Finished the Darshana and retire for the day.

Guruswamy in Different Avtaar

Day - 3

The day started so early around 4 am. Finished our morning core job, and headed towards one more round darshana. It not took much time, had so relaxed darshana.

Different Poses with team

Everything was going as per schedule, now its time to turn back towards Pamba. Trusts are offered morning breakfast too, few of us had it. After the group photograph, journey is continued.

Getting ready to departure

Morning weather was cool, descend was pleasant. We come across many Doli's where the devotees are carried by four people.

Doli Service

This time we decided to take one more route to Pamba. Essential goods are carried out on Tracktor. Enjoying the route, taking many photographs reached the Pamba.

Cargo on Peak

We did not feel any tiredness, soon reached Pamba where our TT is waiting for us. Boarded the vehicle, journey is continued towards Chengannur.

Back to Chengannur

Slowly weather was getting hot, taking break reached the town Chengannur. Its time to fill our stomach with yummy lunch. Tamilnadu style hotel served yummy food.

Lunch Break

Kanyakumari Express scheduled at 4 pm. We had enough time to board the train. All went around station for shopping of Kerala popular snacks of different chips.

Shopping Time @ Chengannur

Most memorable journey is coming to an end. We all boarded the train and settled on our seats. As train run so fast on track, the golden memories rounding in my mind. Just thanked to everyone before taking a departure and missing such a wonderful lovely team, hoping to meet again soon.

Lovely Team

Special Thanks to

• Guruswamy (Krishnan KR) is our guide, mentor and well wisher for Shabari trip
• Shnakar P & Raj Shekhar R key pillars who organized wonderful trip with excellent planning & arrangement 
• Gopal Krishna, taken care of all Pooja responsibilities, TT, Accommodation & Home made Food arrangement which is unforgettable. 
• Sujithran, Raghu , Karthik & Shankar P for sponsoring the lovely food during journey
• Karthik who Volunteered for food arrangement & parcels
• Vandan Kumar P who volunteered organizing the Pooja at Blr temple
• Finally to all friends who are part of our holy trip 

USEFUL INFORMATION :

1. Reaching Sabarimala

The Ayyappa temple on Sabarimala lies 184 km away from the international airport in the Kerala's capital city of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). Similarly, it is      214 km from Kochi (formerly Cochin) International Airport. The nearest railway stations to Sabarimala are at Kottayam and Chengannur.

During the pilgrimage seasons, devotees proceed to the temple through Chalakayam, or they hit the mountain trails that start from Erumeli and ascend the Karimala    hills barefoot. The total distance covered is approximately 50 km.

Three main routes to Sabarimala currently exist and they are,

      I) Kottayam to Pampa (via) Erumeli, from Pampa to Sabarimala (by foot) - 136 km Kottayam to Pampa (via) Manimala, from Manimala to Sabarimala by foot - 116 km

     II) Erumeli to Sabarimala (via) Kalaketty, Azhutha, Inchippara, Karimala, Pampa - 45 km From Pampa to Sabarimala by foot.

    III) Vandiperiyar to Mount Estate by vehicle, from Mount Estate to Sabarimala by foot.

     IV) Vandiperiyar to Kozhikkanam, from Kozhikkanam to Sabarimala (descent) - 15 km Kozhikkanam to Uppupura -10 km. Uppupura to Sabarimala - 3.5 km (Vehicles can be utilized for travel till Uppupura).

Vehicles cannot proceed further beyond Pampa which is located in the Pampa river valley; the final five kilometers are best covered by trekking, but for the aged and handicapped, porters and chairs are available.

2. Temple timings (Monthly Five Days)
Morning: 
Opening: 4.00 a.m.
Closing: 1.30 p.m.

Evening: 
Opening: 4.00 p.m.
Closing: 11.00 p.m.

3.Accommodation : Many Guest Houses are available, we can book the Accommodation in advance 

4. There are also other holy temples in an around the Sabarimala Temple, which is stunning as well. 

5. Parking : From 2019, no private vehicles will be allowed to park beyond Nilakkal.

Nilakkal (20Kms away from Pampa) would be the base station for pilgrims. Private vehicles will not be allowed between Nilakkal and Pampa.

Only KSRTC will be allowed in this route.