Makara Jyothi Is Man-Made

The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB) has stated that Makara Vilakku is man-made, and that it is not a divine phenomena as millions of Ayyappa believers believe. TDB explained that Makara Jyothi refers to the star Sirius that appears at the horizon, while Makara Vilakku is the flame lit by men as a part of the 'deepa aradhana'.

Sabarimala, the abode of the diety Ayyappa, is the religious site that attracts the 2nd highest number of devotees in India. The Makara Jyothi is the term that was used to refer to the light that flickers thrice over the Ponnambalamedu hills near Sabarimala, which millions believed, until recently, was divine in its origin.

Ayyappa's devotees believed that the lord gave them His 'darshan' in the form of the flame. People are known to camp out in the forest and roost on trees days ahead of the festival.

In 1999, around 25 devotees were killed, and more than a 100 sustained injuries, due to a landslide that occured because too many people had climbed a hillock to view the jyothi.

This belief was repeatedly disputed by various rationalists, who argued that the flames were man-made. The massive stampede that killed more than a 100 devotees, after the viewing of the Makara Jyothi on 14 January 2011, set off the debate once more.

However, authorities chose to circumvent this matter as the issue was highly sensitive.

"It is essentially a matter of faith for millions of people," said Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, while announcing in January that his government would not probe into the Makara Jyothi issue.

The Kerala High Court had ordered the TDB to specify whether the Makara Jyothi is indeed divine, after the massive stampede. And the latter has answered in the negative. It has been revealed that some men manually light a lamp, whose flames are seen as the symbol of Ayyappa.

The TDB has appealed to the High Court to let the age-old ritual of the lighting of the lamp to continue. The court agreed to the request, and said that the TDB may conduct the ritual using its own funds.