Sabarimala (Kerala) | In the sacred precincts of the renowned Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, the Travancore Devaswom Board organised special prayers for legendary singer K J Yesudas, who celebrated his 'pirannal' (birthday as per the Malayalam calendar) on Friday.

Yesudas's birth star is Uthradam (Uttara Ashadha).

As the doors of the Lord Ayyappa temple opened for the pooja today, marking Uthradam according to the Malayalam calendar, priests conducted Ganapatihomam.

Neyyabhishekam and Sahasranamarchana, among other special offerings, were also performed for the singer.

In a statement, the TDB, which manages the hill shrine, said that arrangements had been made to send the prasad of the offerings to Yesudas, who is currently in the US.

Yesudas is an ardent devotee of Lord Ayyappa and was a regular visitor to the Sabarimala Temple before shifting to the US.

The legendary Carnatic music vocalist and playback singer, affectionately known as Ganagandharva (celestial singer), has sung several revered Ayyappa devotional songs, including the iconic "Harivarasanam." The Lord Ayyappa Suprabhath, awakening the deity in the morning, and the Harivarasanam, lulling him to sleep, sung by Yesudas, are played in the hill-lock shrine.

He was the first recipient of the Harivarasana Puraskaram, an award jointly instituted by the state government and the Devaswom Board.

Recognised as one of the greatest playback singers in the country, Yesudas began his music career in the tinsel town with the Malayalam song "Jathi bhedam matha dwesham" in 1961 and sang mainly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, apart from songs in other languages as well.