Prez visits Sabarimala and offers prayers

Kottayam: President Droupadi Murmu visited Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta on Wednesday. She is the second serving President and the first woman head of state to offer prayers at Sabarimala. V V Giri was the first president to make a pilgrimage to Lord Ayyappa's hill shrine while in office.

Murmu arrived at Sabarimala at 11.45am from Pamba, climbing the ‘Pathinettam padi' (holy eighteen steps) to reach the sanctum. Accompanying her were her son-in-law Ganesh Chandra Hembram, ADC Saurabh S Nair and PSO Vinay Mathur, who also climbed the steps. At the sanctum, she was welcomed with a traditional offering of ‘Poorna Kumbham' by devaswom minister V N Vasavan.

Revenue devaswom secretary M G Rajamanikyam, Travancore Devaswom board president P S Prashanth, Sabarimala thantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanaru and Sabarimala melshanti S Arun Kumar Namboothiri were also present. The President offered prayers to Lord Ayyappa and other deities and visited Malikappuram and Vavaruswami Nada. Vasavan presented her with a gift from the Travancore Devaswom Board. She departed for Pamba at 12.15pm.

Earlier, the President prepared the traditional Irumudikettu at Pamba before heading to Sabarimala. She arrived at Pamba at 11am in a special convoy and visited the Ganapathi temple. After her visit to Sabarimala, Murmu departed for Thiruvananthapuram. She was seen off at the Pramadam Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium ground at 4.15pm by Vasavan. Restrictions were imposed at Sabarimala due to the President's visit. Devotees were not permitted entry on Wednesday. Devotees could proceed to Pamba and Sannidhanam only after the President's departure.