{"id":69818,"date":"2025-10-23T14:09:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=69818"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:09:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:39:49","slug":"sabarimala-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sabarimala-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabarimala Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Sabarimala Temple Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">President Droupadi Murmu recently made a historic visit to the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, becoming the first woman head of state to offer prayers at the renowned hilltop shrine.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Sabarimala Temple<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Located in the <\/span><b>Western Ghats<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Pathanamthitta District of <\/span><b>Kerala<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an <\/span><b>ancient temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> dedicated to <\/span><b>Lord Ayyappa.\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ayyappa, also known as Dharma Shasta, is the <\/span><b>son of Shiva and Mohini<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the feminine form of Vishnu.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The temple is situated <\/span><b>on a hilltop amidst 18 hills <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at an altitude of 4,134 ft above sea level.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is surrounded by mountains and dense forests that are a part of the <\/span><b>Periyar Tiger Reserve.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>not open throughout the year.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with an estimated <\/span><b>40 to 50 million pilgrims<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> visiting the temple every year, especially during the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku season.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>It is said that the pilgrims have to follow a 41-day vratham (austerity period)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> before going to Sabarimala.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is one of the few Hindu temples in India that is<\/span><b> open to all faiths.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>There is a place near the temple,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> east of Sannidhanam (the abode of Lord Ayyappa), <\/span><b>dedicated to Vavar <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(<\/span><b>a Sufi and a close friend of Lord Ayyappa)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is called <\/span><b>Vavaru Nada, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an epitome of religious harmony.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Sabarimala Temple <\/b><b>Architecture<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It showcases a beautiful blend of traditional <\/span><b>Kerala and Dravidian architectural styles.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main temple <\/span><b>stands on a 40 feet high plateau<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and consists of a <\/span><b>sanctum sanctorum<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a <\/span><b>copper-plated roof and four golden finials,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> two mandapams, and a flagstaff.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>main staircase<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the Sabarimala Temple is made up of <\/span><b>18 sacred steps.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Sabarimala Case<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Women in their \u2018menstruating years\u2019 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(between 10 to 50 years) <\/span><b>were customarily prohibited from entering<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the temple.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that the Sabarimala temple&#8217;s <\/span><b>exclusion of women <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aged 10 to 50 <\/span><b>was unconstitutional.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\">The verdict <b style=\"font-size: inherit;\">triggered widespread protests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b style=\"font-size: inherit;\">remains under review by a larger bench.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/india\/kerala\/story\/droupadi-murmu-first-woman-president-visit-sabarimala-prayer-lord-ayyappa-2806776-2025-10-22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IT<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sabarimala Temple is a famous pilgrimage site located in the Western Ghats, in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala, attracting devotees from across India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":69856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3358],"class_list":{"0":"post-69818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-sabarimala-temple","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}