Sabarimala Temple
The Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to the God Dharma Sastha where the deity is worshipped as Lord Ayyappan, the son of the deities Shiva and Mohini, and is situated atop the Sabarimala hill in Ranni Taluk in Thiruvalla Revenue Division of Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, India. The temple is surrounded by 18 hills in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. It is one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world, with an estimate of over 10 to 15 million devotees visiting every year.
The temple is open for worship only during the days of Mandala Pooja, Makaravilakku or Makara Sankranti, Maha Thirumal Sankranti, and the first five days of each Malayalam month. The Sabarimala Temple serves as a prime example of the amalgamation of several religious traditions within the Indian context.
The temple practices prohibited women between the ages of 10 and 50 years from accessing the temple premises. This restriction was lifted by the Supreme Court of India after a case was filed by five Hindi speaking North Indian women advocates from Delhi including Prerana Kumari, who is the official spokesperson of the Purvanchal Morcha and the secretary of the BJP legal Cell Supreme court unit.
Origins and legends
According to Bhagavata Purana, after the Samudra Manthan episode, the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Parvati visited Vaikuntha and met the god Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi. Shiva asked Vishnu to show him his famous and beautiful Mohini avatar. Vishnu transformed into Mohini, and Shiva immediately got aroused by her. Mohini started running away, and Shiva chased her from behind, causing Parvati and Lakshmi to hang their heads out of shame. Eventually, Mohini and Shiva reached a beautiful forest, and Shiva grabbed Mohini, laid her down on the ground beneath a flowering tree and had sex with her. Their homosexual union resulted in the conception of the deity Shasta. After which, Shiva loses his spiritual powers due to the act. Shiva and Mohini then return to their respective abodes. Shasta is also known as Hariharaputra, the son of Hari and Hara. Shasta is eventually born from Mohini's thigh because Mohini does not have a real womb. It is believed that Ayyappa is a form of Shasta.The worship of Shasta forms part of the ancient history of South India. There are many Shasta temples in South India and across the globe.
Five Shasta temples, namely those in Kulathupuzha, Aryankavu, Achankovil, Sabarimala, and Ponnambalmedu, are said to be linked to Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu. In Kulathupuzha, Shasta is venerated as a child deity. In the Aryankavu temple, he is worshipped as an adolescent Brahmachari. The Achankovil temple is connected to the deity's Grihastha, where he is shown sitting on a horse and holding a sword, along with his wives, Pushkala and Poorna. The Sabarimala temple is associated with the deity's Vanaprastha stage, and in the Ponnambalmedu or Kantamala temple, the deity is shown as the greatest Yogi.
Legend of Manikandan
Sage Suta told his followers the story of how Ayyappa was born, according to Bhutnathopakhyanam, a text for Ayyappan followers. After Goddess Durga killed the demon Mahishasura, his sister Mahishi arrived to take revenge on the devas. After Mahishi performed a severe tapasya, Brahma was pleased with her and gave Mahishi a boon that made her invincible, with the condition that only a human born of Vishnu and Shiva could kill her. Knowing that Vishnu and Shiva would never bring forth a child, Mahishi became arrogant and seized the earth and heavens, brutally killing all who worshipped a god. The gods were afraid and helpless, so they sought assistance from Vishnu. The union of Shiva and Vishnu, who took the avatar of Mohini, produced a son named Manikandan.Manikandan was abandoned on the banks of the Pampa River in southern India. The emperor Rajashekhara of the Panthalam dynasty, who was childless, found this child. In the meantime, the queen delivered a baby. The prime minister disliked Manikandan and devised a scheme to eliminate him. He asked the queen to lie about her sickness, claiming that she could only be treated by consuming tiger's milk. Twelve-year-old Manikandan ventured into the wilderness in search of tiger's milk for his adoptive mother. On his journey through the forest, he killed Mahishi. The gods were pleased at Mahishi's death. Indra, Agni, Varuna, Vayu and Kubera appeared before Ayyappan and told him that they would help him. The gods transformed into tigers, which Manikandan used to return to the kingdom. As soon as Rajashekhara saw Manikandan accompanied by tigers, Rajashekhara found out the truth behind the prime minister and proceeded to punish him, but Manikandan stopped him from doing so, stating that he had hastened the divine mission of killing Mahishi. Rajashekhara then bowed before Manikandan, who said that he needed a temple to live in. Manikandan asked his father and the citizens to accompany him. Manikandan shot an arrow into the sky. The arrow eventually landed at the summit of the Sabarimala hill, and Manikandan asked the king to build only 18 steps from the ground to the summit and then ascended to heaven.
Rajashekhara thought that 18 steps from the ground to a tall hill was impossible. Parashurama appeared before him and told the king he would help him build the temple. The temple was eventually built, and Parashurama installed a holy stone idol of Manikandan. The idol depicts Manikandan as Ayyappan, seated in a yogic posture, his right hand displaying the abhaya mudra, his left hand resting on his left thigh, his legs bound by a cloth and seated on a pedestal.
Legend of Malikapurathamma
Cheerappanchira is an ancient noble Ezhava family from Muhamma in Alappuzha District. According to mythology, Maalikapurathamma is the divine daughter of Cheerappanchira Panicker. Ayyappan, who got interested in learning kalaripayattu went to Muhamma to learn Kalaripayattu at Cheerappanchira tharawad. Malikkapurathamma, also known as Subhadra, taught kalaripayattu to Ayyappan in the absence of her father. During this time, they both fell in love. They could not get united. He, however, appreciated her devotion and declared that a temple for her would be built. A payasam was prepared on the birthday of Poongudi, and Ayyappan liked it very much. Later, when the Sabarimala shrine was established, this payasam became the main prasadam for the deity, as Ayyappan was very fond of it. The Cheerappanchira family holds the rights to conduct fireworks, to light Nilavilakku and ceremonial lamps at the Sabarimala temple, and collect half of the coconuts donated by the devotees at the Sabarimala temple. Valiya Kadutha swamy and Kochu Kadutha swamy are warriors worshipped at the temple and are considered as Shaundikans.Legends related to other deities
Valiyakadutta Swami and Kochukadutta Swami, both legendary generals in Lord Ayyappa’s army. Valiyakaduttar led the Pandalam kingdom’s army, while Kochukaduttar, a skilled warrior from Injiparai Kalari, became his aide. Together, they fought bravely, destroying Udaya’s Injiparai fort in the Karimala battle. In the battle, Kochukadutta fought the war despite losing both legs. When Ayyappa returned to his Samadhi at Sabarimala, Kochukadutta chose to stay and serve there. His shrine is located near the Malikapurathamma shrine. The Valiyakadutta shrine is located to the left of the Pathinettaampadi.Karuppu Swami & Karuppai Amma were forest-dwellers who assisted Lord Ayyappa in defeating Udayan and are revered for their own supernatural powers. A shrine dedicated to them is located on the right side of the ''Pathinettaampadi.''
Connection with Rama
was a tribal devotee of Rama who is mentioned in the Ramayana. Sabarimala literally translates to "the hill of Sabari."As per legend, Shabari met Sage Matanga near the foot of Mount Rishyamukha. He became her guru, and she devotedly served him for years. When Matanga was on his deathbed, he foretold that Rama would come to grant her darshan. He told her to wait for the arrival of Rama. Since that time, Sabari would leave her ashram each day only to gather berries for Rama. She would pick one, taste it, and place it in her basket if it was sweet, discarding the bitter berries because she wanted Rama to have only the sweet berries. While searching for Sita, Rama visits Sabari at her ashram. Sabari fed Rama with the berries that she had collected. The place in Sabarimala where its believed that Rama gave moksha to Sabari is called Sabari Peedam.
Rama saw a divine person doing penance and asked Shabari to tell him who it was. Shabari said it was Shastha. Shastha also met and greeted Rama.
The temple
History
The Sabarimala temple does not have any ancient or medieval references. Nevertheless, there are extant late medieval references pertaining to the temple.The Pandalam royal family drafted a mortgage document in 1793. It states that the royal family is pledging the revenue returns, which encompass the income generated by the Sabarimala Temple, to the Tranvancore state. The earliest surviving written records referencing the Sabarimala temple date back to the 1818, when Lieutenant B. S. Ward provided a description of the temple and noted that approximately 10,000–15,000 devotees attended the five‑day annual festival in January, indicating that the shrine was already an established place of worship by that time. In 1863, Ward and Conner published an article that provided a description of Sabarimala and its vicinity.
In the year 1902, the ruler of Travancore issued a directive for the restoration of the Sabarimala temple, which had suffered damage as a result of a fire incident. Kochummen Muthalali of Polachirackal family, a Mavelikkara resident of Christian faith, funded and carried out the reconstruction contract. A later reference appears in the Travancore State Manual, compiled by V. Nagam Aiya and published in 1906, which similarly records that over 10,000 pilgrims visited Sabarimala during the annual Mandala Pooja season. In 1929, Diwan Bahadur L. A. Krishna Iyer in his article On some aspects of the worship of Sasta mentions 40,000 pilgrims attended the temple during Makaravilakku.
In the year 1950 the temple was rebuilt after an arson attack. No charges were brought, and the earlier stone image of the deity was replaced by a panchaloha idol, about one and a half feet tall.
Neelakanta Panicker and his younger brother, Ayyappa Panicker, who are members of the Thattavila Vishwakarma family in Chengannur, Kerala, created the Panchaloha idol to replace the original stone statue of the deity. Edavankadan T.N. Padmanabhan Achari from Mavaelikkara was appointed the supervisor in charge of the new idol by Rajpramukh Sree Chithira Tirunaal Balarama Varma. In the early 1950s, through P. T. Rajan efforts, the present panchaloha idol of Ayyappan was installed at Sabarimalai, and a procession was taken all over Madras state.
In 1969, the flagstaff was installed.