Sabarimala season. is on. Many devotees will be taking paal kudam ritual to the Murugan temples. Litres of milk will be poured over the idols of the presiding deity.In Palani, the idol of Lord Muruga is made out of an amalgam known as Nava Pasanam, which has the potency of curing any diseases.
Hence, our forefathers took up the practice of abhishekham. Moreover, the premises of the temples were kept spick and span. All those devotees who took a few drops of milk, honey and other preparations benefitted from that practice.
In addition, Fresh cow's milk was used for the anointment purpose. But these days milk sachets are widely used. Instead of pouring litres of milk over the statue the devotees could perform abhisekham with one kudam (as a matter of tokenism) and divert other kudams to the nearby orphanages. Except Palani, all other newly constructed murugan temples don't have Nava Pasaanam idols. So they don't have medicinal purposes.
Even in palani , anointment to mulavar(main idol) had been stopped more than two decades ago. Thanks to greedy and influential "devotees"????, who just scrubbed the age old idol,for their personal purposes.
My suggestion is there should be a rethink to this pratice.
