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
