Kannada songs to be played at Sabarimala

The Travancore Devaswom Board, which administers the Lord Ayyappa temple there, has decided to play songs in non-Malayalam south Indian languages besides Sanskrit and Hindi at the famed shrine.

So far, the temple opened and closed to the rendering of songs rendered by eminent singer K J Yesudas and Jaya-Vijayan duo only.

However, a TDB release said henceforth a CD of five songs in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit and Hindi will be played along with Malayalam.

Popular devotional songs by S P Balasubramaniam, Veeramani, Seerkazhi Govinda Rajan and Narayana Reddy will also be heard from now. However, Yesudas’ famous hymn “Harivarasanam” will still be used at night to put the lord to sleep as in most Ayyappa temples.