SABARIMALA: The hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa here will be opened on Sunday for the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season.

Melsanthi Arunkumar Nampoothiri, whose one-year tenure ends on Sunday, will open the sreekovil of the temple at 4.30 pm in the presence of thantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanaru.

The installation ceremony of new Sabarimala melsanthi E D Prasad will be held after opening the temple at 6 pm.

As part of the ceremony, the thantri will perform kalasabhishekam on the new melsanthi in front of the sreekovil. On conclusion of the abhishekam, the thantri will lead the new melsanthi to the sreekovil and administer the “moolamantram” of the deity in the ears.

Similar installation ceremony will be held at Malikappuram Devi temple for new melsanthi Manu Nampoothiri in front of the Devi temple at 7 pm under the leadership of the thantri. The new Sabarimala melsanthi’s one-year tenure will begin with opening of the sreekovil of the temple at 4 am on Monday, marking the beginning of the 41-day long Mandala pooja season in the presence of the thantri.

On the first day of the annual pilgrimage season on Monday, the devaswom authorities issued a total of 70,000 virtual queue passes for the devotees for darshan.