Sabarimala to Get Dedicated Ghee Collection and Monitoring System
Pathanamthitta: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) is introducing a new system at the Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa Swamy temple to improve the collection, monitoring, and use of ghee offered by devotees. As part of the plan, the existing iron storage tanks will be replaced with stainless steel tanks. The new tanks will be equipped with index meters to measure the quantity of ghee and a system that allows the level to be viewed from the outside.
Travancore Devaswom Board President K. Jayakumar said the aim is to accurately record the inflow and usage of ghee offered by devotees and ensure greater transparency. "The new system is intended to accurately monitor how much ghee is received at the temple and how it is used for various purposes," he said.
During the Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, around 1,000 litres of ghee are received at Sabarimala every day. Every devotee climbing the sacred 18 steps carries a ghee-filled coconut in the Irumudi Kettu. After breaking the coconut at the designated place in the temple premises, a portion of the ghee is offered for the abhishekam (neyyabhishekam ritual) of Lord Ayyappa.
The remaining ghee is poured by devotees into three designated ghee collection vessels at the temple. The ghee collected in these vessels, along with the leftover ghee from the sanctum after the abhishekam, is later transferred to large storage tanks.
The collected ghee is then heated and purified using machines before being put to various uses. It is used for certain temple rituals, for lighting all the ghee lamps inside and outside the sanctum, and for preparing prasadams such as Aravana, Appam, Payasam, and Panchamritham. At Sabarimala, ghee is an essential ingredient in the preparation of these offerings and is also used in the prasadam offered to Lord Ayyappa.
In addition, the same ghee is used for cooking in the temple kitchen (Thidappally) and the staff canteen. It is also packed and distributed to devotees as prasadam under the name "Adiya Sishtam Ghee."