Sabarimala temple logs ₹357 cr record revenue

₹146.99 crore came from the sale of aravana (red rice and jaggery pudding) and ₹17.77 crore from sale of appam (rice-based sweet fritter), two main offerings at the temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa

Kochi: The Sabarimala temple in Kerala collected donations worth ₹357.47 crore during the 2023-24 Mandalam-Makaravilakku annual pilgrimage compared with ₹347.12 crore in the preceding year’s pilgrimage, according to the Travancore Devaswom Board that administers the hill shrine.

There has been a rise in the number of pilgrims who made the trek to the Sabarimala temple located in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. (PTI)

Out of this, ₹146.99 crore came from the sale of aravana (red rice and jaggery pudding) and ₹17.77 crore from the sale of appam (rice-based sweet fritter), the two main offerings at the temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa.

There has also been a rise in the number of pilgrims who made the trek to the temple located in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Pathanamthitta district. “A total of 50,06,412 (50 lakh) pilgrims visited the temple this year compared to 44, 16, 219 (44 lakh) in the corresponding period last year. This indicates a rise of five lakh pilgrims this time,” said PS Prasanth, president of the board.

The pilgrimage season this time was fraught with controversies, as there were allegations of crowd mismanagement and lack of amenities like toilets and drinking water on the path to the shrine. There were multiple protests in different parts of the district complaining of apathy from authorities towards pilgrims who arrived in large numbers from neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.