Dressed in black cloths and with the customary sacred
bundle (Irumudikkettu) on their head, a 14-member team of Ayyappa
devotees from Russia reached the holy hillock for the 12th consecutive
year on Tuesday night.
Induchoodan alias Iliya
Padukova, the team leader and Guruswami, said he, along with a group of
devotees from St Petersburg, has been undertaking the annual pilgrimage
for the past 12 years. He is an Ayurvedic doctor in St. Petersburg and
is a disciple at the Panchalipeedha Ashram at Valakode in Idukki from
where he had learned the Kerala martial art of Kalarippayattu a decade
ago.
The team, accompanied by a few Keralite
disciples at the Ashram, had set off from the Ashram on their pilgrimage
to Sabarimala on Tuesday forenoon and reached the Sannidhanam, later,
in the evening. They offered prayers at the Ayyappa Temple on Wednesday
morning before leaving for Idukki
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