The Myth Behind The Origin Of Lord Ayyappa
And
The Divine Sabari Hill Temple(PART I)
Thousands and thousands of Ayyappa disciples visit the famous temple of Sabari every year from all around India. Several modifications to the original temple and surroundings are happening year by year to accommodate exceedingly growing number of disciples visiting the temple. However, by destroying the dense forest around the focal points continually deteriorating the God given natural beauty of the Sabari Hill. During respective seasons one can approach the shrine using various modes of transportation via either Chalakkayam town or more intensively through the mountain trails of Erumelli Township, climbing over the Karimala Mountains in bare foot (~50 Km). The main pilgrimage season is from November to January. Short seasons are extended more frequently nowadays. The shrine is located 914 m above sea level amidst dense forests. Vehicular traffic cannot go beyond Pamba, situated on the Pamba river valley and the last five kilometers to the shrine can be best reached by trekking. Modern facility such as tramway is currently under construction. However, manly carried chairs are also available for handicaps. Note that tourists and foreigners, as well as women between the ages of 14 and 40, approximately puberty and menopause, are not officially allowed entry to the main temple.The origin of Sabari Hill and the divine birth of Lord Ayyappa can be best explained if we go much deeper into the myths. Therefore, it is inevitable to search the origin of two other important mythical characters such as "Mahishasura" and "Mohini" whose involvement in the current story is highly inter-dependent.
The Story of Mahishasura
The myth teaches us that the people live in Heaven are belived to be "Devas" and the people in the hell (the world beneath or pathala) are "Asuras". Devas are divine personality while the Asuras are demons. Let me take you to those ages. "Ramba" and "Karamba" were the sons of "Dhanu". Once both Ramba and Karamba undertook severe penance. Karamba had immersed himself up to neck-deep in water and Ramba in blazing fire to propitiate Lord Agni (the Lord of Fire). "Devendra", the king of Devas has foreseen the danger of his throne. He assumed himself as a crocodile, and killed Karamba while in deep meditation. Ramba after realizing his brother’s fate got frightened and prepared to commit suicide. Lord Agni couldn’t resist himself at this juncture of his disciple who has strong belief in him preparing for suicide as a cause of what Devendra had done to Karamba. Therefore, Lord Agni appeared before Ramba and asked him what boon he wanted. Ramba requested for a son who would not be killed by Devas, Asuras or men. The boon is granted.
On his way back home, Ramba met a beautiful female buffalo. One should also remember that all Asuras were believed to have buffalo head. The male buffalo (male Asura) is called "Mahishan" and the female buffalo (female Asura) is called "Mahishi". He has fallen in love with her at first sight and decided to take her home. They had to halt a night in a jungle during their trip back home. At midnight while Mahishan (Ramba) was making love with the Mahishi, another wild male buffalo got intervened and killed Ramba. The grief-stricken she-buffalo also had given up her life by jumping into the funeral fire of Ramba. It is fact in the myth that once a boon is given, under any circumstances the boon has to materialize. Therefore a baby boy is born from the funeral fire of Ramba and the she-buffalo. The boy is later named as "Mahishasura".
The Story of Enchanting "Mohini"
Mahishasura is brought up by Ramba’s relatives and trained him as their king. Mahishasura was always looking for more power. He worshipped Lord Brahma and performed sever penance for a boon. The Lord is pleased and appeared before him. Mahishasura obtained a boon from Lord Brahma by which no men could kill him. After receiving the boon, Mahishasura began expanding his kingdom. Finally he entered the heaven and conquered Devendra. All Devas are then exiled from heaven. Devas approached the male Trinity- Brahma, Vishnu and Siva and pleaded for help. The male Trinity decided to consult female Trinity- Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvathi. They decided to create a female character by name Durga with a combined power of Devas and a combined beauty of female Trinity. Durga provoked Mahishasura by her laughter to wage war with her. Mahishasura accepted the challenge and a fierce battle ensured in which Durga killed Mahishasura and his followers. The battle and Mahishasura’s murder are ritually performed in Kerala as "Mahishasura Vadham" even nowadays.
"Leela", Mahishasura’s cousin decided to take revenge on Devas after realizing the horrible death of her cousin. The Mahishi also undertook severe penance and propitiated Lord Brahma and received a boon to the effect that she would attain her end only by a baby who could born from "Hari" (Vishnu) and "Hara" (Siva), two male characters. If such a baby is born, prior for he or she could kill her, must serve in a royal family for a minimum period of twelve years in an earthly kingdom. As part of her strategy, she attempted to provoke Devendra, the king of Devas. However, Devendra realized the danger up-front and approached Lord Vishnu for solution. Lords Vishnu and Brahma created Datta, a male Asura to divert the attention of Leela from Devendra. Though the trick worked out temporarily, Devas decided to seek a permanent solution. But how could she be killed? The question is not answered by anyone for a while.
Finally Lord Siva came on to the stage for rescue. As part of the solution, Devas invited Asuras to churning the ocean of milk called "Paalazhi" to recover "Amrutha" or nectar, the taker of which made one immortal. They have chosen the "Manthara" mountain as the churning stick and Vasuki, Lord Siva's snake (Lord Vishnu used to sit as well as sleep on a similar mythologically significant snake called Ananda) as the churning rope. During churning, first came the worst poison, "Kalakootha". Lord Siva, once ralized that the poison could destroy the whole world, tried to swallow himself. Parvathi, his wife throttled him to save her husband’s life. Thus the dark blue colored poison remained at all time at his throat. Hence the name "Neelakhandan" to Lord Siva.
Then came the nectar. However, a quarrel broke out between Devas and Asuras in obtaining adequate amount of the nectar as share. Devas could not afford Asuras becoming immortal. Therefore Lord Vishnu assumed himself the form of a beautiful maiden woman called "Mohini" to entice the Asuras away from the nectar. That was how Mohini originated in the myth. Mohini successfully confused the Asuras and taken them away from the beech while Devas without wasting any time flew away to heaven with the whole "Amritha".
………..(to be continued)
(In part II, we will discuss more about Mohini and her crucial involvement in the birth of the divine baby, Lord Ayyappa)
HARI KOCHAT