Pathanamthitta:  S Arunkumar Namboothiri was selected as the new chief priest (melsanthi) of the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple on Thursday. He is a resident of Thottathil matham, Narayaneeyam, Sakthikulangara in Kollam.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) selected him for the position by drawing lots from a panel of 24 priests shortlisted. Meanwhile, Kozhikode native Vasudevan Namboothiri will be the chief priest of Malikappuram Devi temple. He is a resident of Thirumangalathu illam, Olavanna. They will serve at the shrine for a year.

Rishikesh Varma and M Vaishnavi of the Pandalam royal family drew lots to select head priests of Sabarimala and Malikappuram temples, respectively, in the presence of TDB President P S Prasanth, members A Ajikumar, G Sundareshan, Devaswom Commissioner C V Prakash, Special Commissioner R Jayakrishnan, observer appointed by the High Court T R Ramachandran Nair, the tantri of the temple Kandaru Rajeevaru and tantri Brahmadattan.