Leaving Clothes at Pampa Is Not a Ritual but a Bad Practice: Devaswom Board Urges Devotees to Avoid Unholy Practices
Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) President K. Jayakumar has said that leaving clothes at Pampa after removing them at Sabarimala is not a ritual but a “bad practice.” He urged devotees to strictly avoid such practices, as well as burning camphor in front of vehicles and carrying shampoo in plastic covers.
“Every devotee has a responsibility to preserve Sabarimala as a sacred hill,” Jayakumar said. He stressed the need for the Devaswom Board to shift to a system in which pilgrims’ complaints are addressed promptly rather than waiting until the end of the pilgrimage season. For this, he said, a “two-way communication” mechanism between devotees and the authorities is necessary.
Jayakumar also said that devotees arriving from other states should be provided with accurate and timely information about activities and practices at Sabarimala. To facilitate this, the Devaswom Board plans to publish a multilingual magazine titled Sabarimala Sandesh in Malayalam, English, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil.
The Board aims to release the magazine before November 15, ahead of the commencement of the Mandala pilgrimage season.
He noted that a large proportion of Sabarimala pilgrims come from outside Kerala and may not be familiar with the customs followed at the hill shrine. Since every temple has its own traditions, the magazine will provide devotees with information about Sabarimala’s customs and practices, including the restrictions on the entry of women of menstruating age.
The initiative is intended to help pilgrims better understand and respect the traditions and practices associated with Sabarimala, the TDB president said.