After a gap of two months, the sacred grove of Sabarimala once again started reverberating with loud chants of the  Ayyappa Saranam and  Swami Saranam mantras on Sunday . The Malayalam month of Kanni begins on Monday so the Ayyappa temple was opened in the afternoon for the five –day monthly rituals. Since Pampa was flooded devotees could not reach Sabarimala during the previous monthly rituals and the Onam festival in August . With the help of the Forest  Department the Tantri and his assistants had reached Sabarimala for the rituals in the Malayalam month of Chingom (mid – August) via Uppupara and Pulmedu . Restoration facilities are in progression whereby the Pampa Manalpuram was ravaged severely in the floods . The restoration work is undertaken by the Mumbai  – based Tata projects Limited ,assisted by the TDB works Department . Temporary lighting arrangements at the Pampa Manalpuram and its surroundings are done by  The Kerala State Electicity board.  The Pilgrims reached Pampa on the Nilackal – Pampa chain services run by the KSRTC and all Pampa bound vehicles were stopped at Nilackal . The foot overbridge remained closed on Sunday and the Pilgrims were routed through the Triveni bridge across the Pampa.  On Monday morning the head priest (Melsanthi) A.V.Unnikrishnan Namboodiri opened the Sanctum sanctorum at 5 a.m. and the rituals will begin with the chief priest (Tantri) Kandararu Rajeevararu performing the Ashtadravya Ganapathi homom on Monday morning.