As the annual pilgrimage season in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple is set to conclude on Friday, the revenue at the hill temple recorded an all-time high of ₹320 crore as on January 14, according to a senior temple board official.
Earlier, the highest revenue was recorded in 2018 at ₹260 crore. The full-fledged pilgrimage after two- year pandemic break broke all records, statistics with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) show. The TDB manages day to day affairs of the shrine.
“Both footfall and revenue are quite high. We are still counting the coins. A clear picture will emerge in a couple of days. On Makar Sankranti (January 14), more than 2 lakh pilgrims trekked to the temple. Thanks to the help of various departments and pilgrims’ co-operation, everything went smoothly,” said TDB president K Ananthagopan.
Last week, the TDB had to involve more employees to count the currency after the counting machines developed snags. Revenue from Sabarimala feeds many small temples in Travancore region of the state and also foots salaries of the TDB members.
The TDB president said the main revenue came from “aravana payasam,” a black kheer made of rice, jaggery, ghee and cardamom. It formed more than 60% revenue of the temple, he said. Last month, the high court had intervened and limited the daily numbers of pilgrims to 90,000 but the directive was waived during auspicious days. The temple had witnessed stampede-like situations a couple of times during the annual pilgrimage season (mid November to mid January).
{{/usCountry}}The TDB president said the main revenue came from “aravana payasam,” a black kheer made of rice, jaggery, ghee and cardamom. It formed more than 60% revenue of the temple, he said. Last month, the high court had intervened and limited the daily numbers of pilgrims to 90,000 but the directive was waived during auspicious days. The temple had witnessed stampede-like situations a couple of times during the annual pilgrimage season (mid November to mid January).
{{/usCountry}}The hill-top shrine is situated in Periyar tiger reserve in Western Ghats mountain ranges in Pathanamthitta district. Pilgrims from across the country throng the shrine during the annual festival season between November and January.