The auspicious manadala pooja, which is just two days away, will mark the culmination of the first leg of the two-month-long pilgrimage of the famed Sreedharma Sastha temple. More police personnel were deployed at the base camp Pampa and uphill Sannidhanam to manage the crowd that had to wait for six to ten hours for darshan.

The temple authorities said the influx of pilgrims this season was unprecedented as the rush was comparable to the Makaravilakku days in January.