Erumely – A Symbol of Communal Harmony

The way to Sabrimala that makes truly unique is the halt at the small town of Erumely. Even though the pilgrimage is mostly commenced by Hindus is considered incomplete without a prayer at the mosque in Erumely, the gateway to Sabarimala. The ayyappa devotees have to first get blessings from Vavar, who is the Muslim friend of Lord Ayyappa to get Lord’s blessings. So all Ayyappas need to visit and pray at the mosque and then only leave for Sabarimala. The famous 'Pettathullal', a kind of mass spiritual dance perform by Ayyappa devotee’s starts from the small temple situated at the heart of Erumely town known as 'Kochambalam'. All Ayyappas on their way to Sabarimala queue up at the mosque to get the consent of Vavar, the deity at the mosque and the Muslims here take pride in this age-old tradition. It is little wonder then that the small town of Erumely is now standing tall for promoting communal harmony in its unique way. The only one village in the entire nation where both Hindus and Muslims live happily together and pray together, it’s just here. Erumely, the small town in Kerala is so proud of this. This eventually depicts the traditional importance of communal strength throughout the devotees coming different parts of the nation. The place highlights the relevance of Ayyappa devotion for members of all faiths religious unity, whether they are Muslims, Hindus or Christians.

Sabarimala Makara Vilakku 2014

Thiruvabharanam Procession 2014 - Makaravilakku

The ceremonial Thiruvabharanam procession, carrying the golden attire to be adorned on the idol of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala temple during the deeparadhana on the Makaravilakku day on January 14, began its journey from Valiyakoickal Sree Dharma Sastha temple here on Sunday.
The three-day procession, carrying the golden attire in three sandalwood boxes, began at 1 pm after witnessing the ‘Krishnaparunthu’ on the sky above the temple.

Travancore Devaswom Board president M P Govindan Nair, member P K Kumaran, Devaswom commissioner P Venugopal, District Collector Pranab Jyothinath, District Superintendent of Police Rahul R Nair, Hindu Aikya Vedi general secretary Kummanam Rajasekharan were present on the occasion. A 15-member Devaswom team, led by G Baiju and S Ajithkumar, is coordinating the Thiruvabharanam procession.

An armed police team under the leadership of Pathanamthitta AR camp assistant commandant Anilkumar is providing security cover for the Thiruvabharanam team.

Journey through Traditional Path

After a gap of around five decades, the Thiruvabharanam procession is being taken out through the traditional Thiruvabharanampath, after evicting the encroachers by the district administration after the relentless agitation by the Sabarimala Thiruvabharanam Path Protection Council.

Reception Accorded

Traditional reception was accorded to the procession at Kaippuzha Sree Krishnaswami temple and Kulanada temple.

At Ullannur Sree Bhadradevi temple, the procession was given a rousing reception at 2.30 pm.
Thousands of devotees gathered for the darshan of the Thiruvabharanam when the box was opened for worship. After leaving Ullannur temple, the procession halted for the first night at Ayroor Puthiyakavu Devi temple.

On Monday, the procession will halt at Laha Forest IB after receiving receptions at Koonankara Sabari Saranasramam.

The procession, after leaving Laha at 4 am on Tuesday, will halt for the noon at Valiyanavattom before reaching Saramkuthi for a rousing reception under the leadership of Sabarimala Devaswom executive officer Mohandas and administrative officer Subhash at 5.30 pm.

At Sopanam, the Thiruvabharanam will be accorded reception by a team led by TDB president M P Govindan Nair at 6.15 pm.

In front of the Sreekovil, Thantri Maheswararu and Melsanthi Narayanan Nampoothiri will receive the Thiruvabharanam and deepardhana will be held after adorning the attire on the idol at 6.30 pm.

PANDALAM PALACE

Pandalam Palace

The myths and beliefs of Sabarimala would not be complete without a journey through the historical routes of the Panthalam Royal family.

Thazhamon Madom is the last word for ‘Tantrik’ rites performed at Sabarimala. The pilgrimage history of Sabarimala would not be complete without the ‘thiruvabharana’ (sacred ornaments) procession. The procession is led by the representative of Panthalam king. The head priest welcomes the representative by washing his feet below the 18 holy steps or ‘pathinettam padi’, before proceeding to sanctum sanctorum. The poojas (ceremonial worships and offerings) that follow are done under the supervision of the king. Once the temple closes after pilgrimage season, the sanctum sanctorum is locked and the key along with kizhippanam (an amount offered as part of rituals) is handed over to the representative of the king.

As per tradition, the senior king of Panthalam Palace does not go for worship to Sabarimala. Other members of the royal family can go to Sabarimala only after ‘upanayanam’ or ‘poonool kalyanam’ (sacred thread ceremony) as custom demands. Kings from Panthalam do not pray standing right in front of the idol. They can climb the holy steps without ‘irumudikkettu’ (bag with two compartments which is to be carried on head). Antiquity of the palace is calculated from ‘Kollavarsham’ 79 (Malayalam era). Panthalam Valia Koyikkal Temple, and Thonnalloor, Kaippuzha palaces also have a significant place in Sabarimala history.

Pandya dynasty

The ancestors of the royal family belonged to Pandya dynasty who were the rulers of Madurai. The kings had a difference of opinion with their minister Tirumalanaykkan. Following this, they left Madurai and reached Sivagiri, which was appropriated by them. Later they dwelled in places like Thenkashi, Elanthoor and Maniyam, after which they reached Panthalam. They started living on either banks of the river Achankovilar. Fort palaces were constructed at Thonnalloor and Kaippuzha. The administrative headquarters was Thonnalloor. The ministers stayed at Muttar and the army chiefs at Kadaykkadu. Panthalam desam extended from Chenkotta till Chembakassery.

Chengannoor Thazhamon Madom

The fame and nobility of Thazhamon Madom dates back to the legend of the formation of Kerala. Legend says that sage Parasurama who built 64000 temples after retrieving Kerala found the ‘tanthris’ (priests) for the temples from Nalloor in Andra Pradesh. He invited 2 brahmins to Kerala who excelled in ‘tantrik’ practices, and decided to test their skills on the banks of River Krishna. He ordered them to cross the heavy flowing river without using boats. One of them placed darbha (holy grass used for rituals) on the water and crossed the river walking over the grass. The second priest shoved water to either sides and walked across to the other bank.

Sabarimala Temple

Ayyappan is one of the most popular deities in Kerala and in South India as a whole: every year between 6 and 10 million pilgrims from the southern states of Kerala,Tamilnadu, Karnataka, and Andra Pradesh visit Sabarimala.This generates an income for the temple, from offerings and the sale of take-home prasadam. Moreover, both the number of pilgrims and temple income are increasing, according to temple administrators, every year.  These figures are even more impressive given that the temple is only open for around 120 days a year: the main pilgrimage season lasts about sixty days, from mid-November to the second half of January  (the rest of the time the temple opens to devotees only for the first five days

of each Malayali calendar month, as well as at ten days for Vishu, summer solstice). 

 The festival season begins on the first day of the Malayalam month of Vrischikam (from mid-November to mid-December) and lasts for forty-one days – this being referred to as the Mandala period. Then the temple is closed for five days, during which no puja (worship) is conducted, as Ayyappan is said to be resting after forty-one days of giving darshan (divine gaze). The temple opens again for about another three weeks and after fourteen days there is the culmination of the festival season, makaravilakku (Makaram lights),which we describe below. On the first day of the Malayalam month of Makaram (from mid-January to mid-February), a movable image of Ayyappan is enthroned on an elephant and taken in procession to the Pamba river where arat (holy bath) is performed. Once bathed, the image is conveyed once more to receive ‘divine gold ornaments’ (thiruvabharanam) which arrive in another procession from the town of Pandalam, which is the seat of the Ayyappan’s adoptive father, the erstwhile Pandalam Rajah, whose descendants ruled one of the region’s former princely states. (During this period the temple is closed and the sanctum purified). Huge crowds of pilgrims accompany the procession up into the mountain from Pandalam, together with two divine eagles which are said to circle the sky for the duration of the journey. The gold ornaments are then taken to the temple and placed on Ayyapan’s main image.The principal shrine is closed while the chief Brahmin temple priest and his assistants perform pujas ; outside a great mass of pilgrims waits, calling Ayyappan’s name. At 6.30 p.m., while the doors of the main shrine are still closed, a bright light (Makara Jyothi ) appears on top of one of the hills surrounding the temple and a bright star appears in the sky, signs indicating the presence and satisfaction of Ayyappan. After a few minutes, the doors of the main shrine open and while deepharadana – the circling of holy flame in front of the deity which concludes every act of puja is performed, the light in the sky disappears. At 12.30 a.m. the main festival continues with the movable image of Ayyappan taken out again in procession to visit the nearby shrine of Malikappurattamma, his hopeful, waiting bride who has meanwhile also been decorated with gold ornaments brought from Pandalam. But when Ayyappan reaches Malikappurattamma’s shrine, all torches miraculously extinguish themselves: Malikappurattamma has started her menstruation and a red cloth is draped over the rear part of her shrine. As the goddess is in a state of pollution, Ayyappan is forced to turn back without even seeing her. The temple is then open for a further seven days, during which a number of rituals connected to the deity’s mythology are performed. 

In particular, during the two following evenings (Makaram 2 and 3), there are processions of a number of deities to the main shrine of Ayyappan: first, Malikappurattamma then, the following evening,Vavarswami, Karuppaswami, and Kaduttaswami.The latter three are important minor deities who helped Ayyappan in his fight against Mahishi. In local versions of the Ayyappan myth,Vavarswami is identified as aMuslim brigand and Karuppaswami as the chief or leader of one of the region’s so-called forest ‘tribal’ populations. Both fought against Ayyappan, were defeated, and became his devoted allies and disciples.

Kaduttaswami was a dwarf created by Shiva – by throwing a hair from his leg on the ground – to

help Ayyappan defeat Mahishi. In the middle of the battle against the demon, Kaduttaswami barged in, shouting loudly; when Mahishi heard the shouting she felt dizzy, lost her strength, and thus Ayyappan killed her with an arrow. For Vavarswami, Karuppaswami, and Kaduttaswami’s loyalty and courage, Ayyappan decided that they should sit forever next to him at Sabarimala. 

On the seventh day after makaravilakku , the Sabarimala pilgrimage season draws to a close with the performance of  gurudi-mock blood-sacrifice using a cucumber as substitute for a live animal – for all the Sabarimala deities. The main Brahmin priest performs the sacrifice outside the main temple, just north of the Malikappurattamma shrine. After that the temple is finally closed to the pilgrims. 

 Visit: www.swamyayyappa.in