The ugly stampede that killed over 100 Sabari pilgrims at Pulmedu on January 14, 2011 is still a painful memory.

But for the divinity attached to the makaravilakku, this tragedy could have been averted. The bigger tragedy, however, is that it took a stampede and the loss of many precious lives for officials to confess, at last, that the makaravilakku is, in fact, man-made and not the result of any divine intervention.

Despite the confession, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) still shrouds the makaravilakku with an element of mystery. TDB president M.Rajagopalan Nair had earlier said that the Board would engage a senior priest to perform the deeparadhana at Ponnambalamedu.

Yet, till date, no one knows who actually lit the makaravilakku at Ponnambalamedu on January 15 this year though it is thought that Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) officials were behind the act.

An independent investigation carried out by this correspondent proves that the light was lit by Ranni divisional forest officer R. Kamalahar. This comes as a surprise, considering the TDB’s rocky relationship with the State Forest Department!

Kamalahar, a member of the 2006 batch, says that he was extremely lucky to light the makaravilakku. “Athu udambe pullarikka vaikkum experience (it was a hair-raising experience).

I’m lucky God Almighty chose me,” Kamalahar told DCk
Thirty-one-year-old Kamalahar, interestingly, is a native of Tamil Nadu. “My father retired from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and my mother is a housewife. I have only one brother who is a software engineer,” he said.

His wife Uma (2009 batch) works as the assistant deputy conservator at Konni. The no-nonsense DFO, who is known to be sincere, honest and hardworking, has been closely interacting with TDB officials during the just concluded pilgrim season. He feels that it is this proximity that prompted TDB officials to choose him to execute the lighting job.

TDB officials were worried, because members of the Malayaraya community had threatened to light the makaravilakku.Kamalahar is a native of Palani, the abode of Lord Muruga who like his brother Ayyappa, according to legend, renounced the world to find peace and solace on a hill top. “Isn’t this a pleasant coincidence?” he asks.

“Mr Rajagopalan Nair called me and said there could be some trouble at Ponnambalamedu. I assured him that nothing would go wrong and trouble-makers would be kept out of the Ponnambalamedu area,” Kamalahar said.

It is learnt that Kamalahar lit the camphor while 21 forest guards and 28 state policemen led by a retired deputy superintendent of police kept vigil. Kamalahar was also joined by two TDB officials including a priest and an executive engineer.

Kamalahar says that the camphor (around 5 kilograms) was lit, listening to the running radio commentary on the thiruvabharana yatra. “Once the commentator said that the makaravilakku would appear any time now, I lit the camphor,” he disclosed. He says that the light was lit exactly at 6.45 pm.

“The moment I showed the light, we could hear the fervent chanting of swamiye saranamayappa at Ponnambalamedu. It was a magnificent and lifetime experience,” he recalls.

Kamalahar also discounts the theory that Malayaraya community members were behind the first makaravilakku that appeared on January 14. “It was, of course, a torch light. We know for sure there was no one at Ponnambalamedu that day,” he said.

Meanwhile, principal chief conservator of forests Raja Raja Varma says that the TDB had never involved the forest department in the makaravilakku lighting ceremony in the past. This is the first time, he said.

It is a well known fact that the TDB and State Forest Department officials have been at loggerheads for a long time.

Forest officials are unhappy that the TDB is promoting pleasure pilgrimages through the heartland of the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), thus endangering its pristine forests.