Ayappa is a very popular god who was worshiped all over india, especially in the south and particularly in the state of kerala. also known as shasta dharma shasta hari haran etc. he has a unique origin. believed to be born out of the spiritual union of lord shiva and vishnu. he is a powerful deity, and his blessings are considered particularly effective in reducing the ill effects of shani or planet saturn. lord ayapa is usually depicted as a handsome celibate god seated in a yogic posture with legs crossed and tied with a band and wearing a bell around his neck. celebrated as a warrior deity he is also shown riding a tiger. in other cases he carries a bow and an arrow in his left hand and holds a bow or a sword in his right hand. legends speak elaborately about the birth and life of lord ayappa. there was once a female demon called mahishi.
she did severe penance and got from lord brahma the extraordinary wound that she can be killed only by someone who was born to lord shiva and vishnu. as two males together cannot produce an offspring, she began taking herself to be indestructible and started committing various atrocities. somewhere else bhasmasar and other demon managed to obtain a deadly wound from shiva to the effect that any person on whose head he places his hand would turn into ashes the very next moment. but no sooner he got the moon he wanted to test its efficacy on lord shiva himself. realizing the implication shiva rushed to lord vishnu and sought his help. the protector from the holy trinity vishnu assumed the form of mohini a bewitching beauty and stood before the demon who was in hot pursuit of the bone – giver.
smitten by mohini’s. charm the demon fell for the beauty and began acting as she wanted and ultimately ended up placing his hand on his own head. and true to the bone he burnt himself to ashes. the relieved shiva himself then felt deeply impressed with the beauty of mohini, and the spiritual union of the two great gods happened for the good of the world. the divine child ayappa was born to them bearing the name hariharan where hari stands for vishnu and haran stands for shiva. this child was later found by king raja radha sheikhar pandyan of pandalam and was brought up as the childless king’s. own son.
as there was a beat tied around the neck of the child the king named the boy manigandan, meaning the one who has a bead in his neck. later a son was born to the king himself but he still considered only manigandan as his elder son. the king started making arrangements for declaring him as his crown prince. however the queen had other ideas and wanted her biological son to ascend the throne after the king. she hatched a conspiracy to get rid of manikantan and pretending to suffer from a severe head ache, she made the physician to prescribe the milk of a tigress as its only cure. while none came forward to undertake this dangerous mission manigandan on his own accord, venture into the jungles perhaps to fulfill the purpose of his advent on earth.
he encountered the female demon mahishi in the forest fought a fierce battle with her and destroyed her but it was actually a blessing in disguise for the demon as in the process, she assumed her original form of a beautiful woman and is now worshiped in the sabarimala temple of ayapa. supremely pleased with the annihilation of the feared mahishi, the devas assumed the form of tigers riding on whom manikantan returned to the palace. realizing the divinity and greatness of the young lad the king and others bowed to him with great respect. with his divine mission completed he took his abode at sabrimala mountain in the patanamtita hill forests to the north of pampa river in the present kerala state.
the king built the temple as desired by the lord and advised by sage agastya in which the idol of the lord as ayapa was consecrated by parasuram, on the first day of the malayalam month makaram. lord ayappa can be worshiped in the sanctum seated cross-legged assuming a divine yogic posture. people in huge numbers from all over the country and even outside keep visiting the sabarimala temple. every year. thousands of devotees are observed practicing the 41 days of austerities to read sabrimala pilgrimage that requires one to go through the tough practice of controlling and limiting your five senses vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch to sinfulness desire, anger, greed, lust, pride, unhealthy competition jealousy and boastfulness.
millions undertake the arduous pilgrimage with faith trekking through the mountains and forests and covering long distances on foot. especially during the consecutive months of karthigai and marbury. this special period of the sacred ayapa worship concludes with the sighting of makara jyoti a flash of light as stars that appear around sunset time at a distant horizon on the holy makkar sankranti day. as ayappa is a celibate young and middle aged menstruating women do not undertake sabarimala pilgrimage.
