Gold, graft, and governance: Sabarimala Ayyappa temple hogs the headlines, yet again - The Hindu

It was just past 8 p.m. on September 7, 2025 a sleepy Sunday. The Sabarimala hillock, from its bustling base at Pampa-Triveni to the sacred heights above, was slowly sinking into the stillness of the night.The Onam festivities at the Ayyappa temple atop the hill had just concluded, and the devotees who thronged the temple in hordes had all gone back. The hill temple, which usually teems with devotees even during brief pilgrimage periods, was mostly deserted.The portals of the famed temple remained closed, leaving behind only a handful of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials and priests at the Sannidhanam, the place where the temple is located.As the hillock slipped into the quietness of the chilly night, the TDB officials, led by the Thiruvabharanam Commissioner (official in charge of the valuable ornaments used to adorn the deities of the temples) and a devaswom smith, carefully removed the gold-inlaid copper plates from the Dwarapalaka (idols that stand guard to the deity at the gate of the sanctum sanctorum) idols.The process, which lasted under an hour, was video-recorded and a mahazar (the document in which the proceedings of an official inspection are recorded) was prepared by incorporating the physical condition and weight of all 12 sheets before they were removed to the vaults of the temple.