Makaravilakku is a mystic deepam (Fire glow) on the Makara Jyothi day that can be seen at ponnambalamedu. It can be seen from Sabarimala beneath the celestial star Sirius.
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Makaravilakku is a mystic deepam (Fire glow) on the Makara Jyothi day that can be seen at ponnambalamedu.
01 · What it is
Living Tradition
Documented cultural tradition on record; family classification awaits an editor.
02 · Where & name
India
Written in its own script on record as मकरविलक्कु.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
Makaravilakku organisersMakaravilakku is a part of a religious ritual that was practiced since the past by the Malayaraya tribe who are believed to be the descendants of Malayaman Kaari in the forest of Ponnambalamedu (the place where…
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Makaravilakku in plain words?
Makaravilakku is a mystic deepam (Fire glow) on the Makara Jyothi day that can be seen at ponnambalamedu. In local script on record, it is written मकरविलक्कु.
Where is Makaravilakku practised or documented?
Sources on this page place Makaravilakku in India.
What is the current condition of Makaravilakku today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Makaravilakku entry?
Cite as: "Makaravilakku." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/makaravilakku, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
Makaravilakku is a mystic deepam (Fire glow) on the Makara Jyothi day that can be seen at ponnambalamedu. It can be seen from Sabarimala beneath the celestial star Sirius. Ponnambalamedu is at a height of 1170m and sabarimala is at a height of 1,260m above mean sea level. The festival includes the Thiruvabharanam (sacred ornaments of the deity Ayyappan) procession and a congregation at the hill shrine of Sabarimala. An estimated half a million devotees flow to Sabarimala every year to view the fire.
Raman Nair, who headed the Devaswom Board under the Congress government said “It’s the police and officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board who would jointly light the fire at Ponnambalamedu on the orders of the state government”
This lighting of the flame at the summit of the hill marks the finale of the pilgrimage season at Sabarimala which lasts about two months. This flame is lit at the time of Deeparathana at the Sabarimala temple. The flame is lit using camphor at the summit. 1
Makaravilakku organisers
Makaravilakku is a part of a religious ritual that was practiced since the past by the Malayaraya tribe who are believed to be the descendants of Malayaman Kaari in the forest of Ponnambalamedu (the place where Makaravilakku appears) and then later secretly continued by The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). It has been practiced for more than hundreds of years by the tribes and no supernatural elements are associated with it.
The name refers to the lighting of a bright "vilakku" (lamp) three times atop Ponnambalamedu. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Makaravilakku”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Makaravilakku is Holy festival, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. 2