The members of
Pandya dynasty ousted by Thirumala Naicker the ruler of the erstwhile Pandya
Empire spanning Madurai, Thirunelveli and Ramanathapuram lived in places like
Valliyur, Tenkasi, Shengottah, Achankovil and Sivagiri. They had also
established their supremacy in parts of Travancore, and some of them belonging
to Chempazhanattu Kovil in Sivagiri were given the right to rule the country of
Pandalam by the King of Travancore, some eight hundred years ago. King
Rajashekara, the foster-father of Lord Ayyappan belonged to this dynasty.
A just and
precocious sovereign King Rajashekara was held by his subjects in high esteem.
Under him, the region was witnessing a goldenage. But the king had one sorrow –
he was childless and thus had no heir to inherit his throne. Both the hapless
king and his queen prayed ceaselessly to Lord Shiva for a child.
Around the same
time, a demon by the name of Mahishasura undertook severe penance (tapas) and
consequently Lord Brahma was forced to grant his wish that nobody on earth
could annihilate him. Emboldened by Brahma’s boon, Mahishasura commenced
systematic destruction of people and pulverized tribes and communities.
Terrorised and fearing his wrath, people fled to distant lands. Realizing that
only a superhuman power could exterminate the wayward Mahishasura, the devas
appealed to Goddess Durga, who killed him in a bloodybattle.
Determined to avenge
her slain brother, Mahishi, the sister of Mahishasura secured a boon from Lord
Brahma that no being except the offspring of Vishnu (Hari) & Shiva (Haran)
could slay her. In due course of time, Mahishi went to Devaloka and began
harassing the Devas who in turn implored Lord Vishnu to intervene. As the boon
was that nobody except the son of Lord Shiva & Vishnu could kill Mahishi,
Lord Vishnu assumed the female persona of Mohini who helped devas prize Amrit
away from asuras; it was decided that the male child born out of the union of
Mohini and Lord Shiva would be placed under the care of Lord Shiva’s childless
devotee, King Rajashekhara of Pandalam.
On one of his
hunting trips to the forests near River Pampa, as King Rajashekara reclined on the banks of river mulling over the natural beauty of the surroundings
and waterfalls, he heard an infant’s wails from the forest. Astounded, he
followed the sounds and came upon a beautiful child furiously kicking its feet
and arms. The king stood there, perplexed – he longed to take the child home to
his palace.
Whilst King
Rajashekhara beheld the divine child, a sadhu appeared from nowhere and
instructed him to take the infant to his palace. Also the mendicant assured him
that the child would mitigate his dynasty’s sufferings and that when the boy
turned twelve, Rajashekhara would be aware of his divinity. As the child was
wearing a gold chain, the sadhu directed the King to name him ‘Manikandan’ –
one with a golden neck.
Ecstatic,
Rajashekhara took Manikandan home and narrated the happenings to his queen.
They both felt that they had been blessed by LordShiva himself. All except the
Diwan who had entertained hopes of becoming king after Rajashekhara, rejoiced
in the royal couple’s happiness.
As a child,
Manikandan was very intelligent and precocious. He excelled in martial arts and
shastras and surprised his guru with his brilliance and superhuman talents.
Peace and prosperity reigned in Pandalam. Eventually, Ayyappan’s guru concluded
that the boy was no ordinary mortal but a divine being. Upon completing his
studies, Manikandan went up to his teacher
to offer guru dakshina and seek his blessings in turn.
As he approached his
spiritual master for ashirwaadams, the guru explained to Manikandan what he had
already surmised about him, that he was a divine power destined for superhuman
glory. The guru then beseeched him to bestow vision and speech upon his son who
was blind and dumb. Manikandan placed his hands on the guru’s son and the boy
immediately gained eyesight and speech. Requesting that this miracle be
revealed to none, Manikandan returned to the royal quarters.
Meanwhile the Queen
had given birth to a male child who was named Raja Rajan. Sensing these
miraculous turn of events were somehow inextricably linked to Manikandan,
Rajasekara, decided to crown him King; he obviously considered Lord Ayyappan
his eldest son. Everbody with the exception of the King’s Diwan, rejoiced. This
wily minister, who secretly nursed kingly ambitions, hated Manikandan and
devised manifold plots, including poisoning of food to exterminate the divine avatar. Manikandan had a few narrow
escapes, yet his body bore an injury that none could cure. Finally, Lord Shiva
himself in the garb of a healer cured the young boy.
His plans foiled,
the Diwan told the Queen that it was highly improper for Manikandan to succeed
Rajasekara, as her own son was alive. Since Arthasastra justifies any misdeed
with a noble end, he instigated her to feign illness; he assured the Queen that
he would make his physician proclaim that she could be cured only by the application of tigress’ milk.
Manikandan would be impelled to go to the forest where he would fall a prey to
wild animals, or even if he returned home without accomplishing the task,
Rajasekara’s love for him would be the same as before. Blinded by her devotion
to her own son, the Queen vowed to help the Diwan and pretended as though she
were suffering from a terrible headache.
The King grew alarmed and summoned his physicians who were unable to revive the
seemingly ailing Queen. Eventually the Diwan’s accomplice declared that she would be cured of the malady only if
the milk of a lactating tigress were made available. Rajasekara proclaimed that
he would hand over half his kingdom to anybody who could cure the hapless
Queen.
The team of soldiers
sent by Rajasekara with the sole purpose of getting the milk returned
empty-handed. Manikandan offered to help, but the King would not heed his pleas
to go to the forest, citing the boy’s tender age and impending coronation as
reasons. Unperturbed, Manikandan requested his father to do him a favour.
Rajasekara, ever the indulgent parent relented immediately; the boy seizing the opportunity pressed him to let
him collect the milk.Manikandan stalled Rajasekara’s efforts to organize a band
of brave men to accompany him into the forest; he argued that the tigress would
leave silently upon seeing the crowd of soldiers. Reluctantly Rajasekara bid
farewell to his favourite son and made him take food stocks and three-eyed
coconuts, in honour of Lord Shiva.
The Panchabuthas of
Lord Shiva closely followed Manikandan as he entered the forest. But on the
way, he chanced to witness the atrocities of the demoness Mahishi in Devaloka.
His sense of justice outraged, Manikandan hurled Mahishi onto the earth below;
she fell on the banks of the Azhutha River. A bloody battle soon ensued and at
the end, Manikandan mounted Mahishi’s chest and commenced a violent dance that reverberated within the
earth and the Devaloka. Even the Devas were frightened. Mahishi realized that
the divine being on her was the son of Hari and Haran, chastened, she
prostrated before the young boy and died.
This dance was
witnessed by Lord Shiva and Mahavishnu from a place called Kalakatti (It is
said that Leela, daughter of Kavalan, a Karamban, with a face of Mahishi and
freed herself from the curse and obtained Moksha by the grace of Shri Dharma
Sastha, which is described in Sabarimala Temple as Malikapurathu Amma, by which
name she has a temple there) Following his
confrontation with Mahishi, Manikandan entered the forest for tigress’ milk. He
had a darshan of Lord Shiva who informed him that even though he had fulfilled
the divine plan, he still had one major task to accomplish. Manikandan was
reminded about his grief-stricken father and ailing mother; also he was assured
of Lord Indran’s assistance in obtaining the much prized tigress’ milk.
Manikandan made his way to the Royal palace on Lord Devendran, disguised as a
tiger; they were accompanied by female devas in the guise of tigresses and male
devas as tigers.
The people of
Pandalam panicked upon seeing the boy and the tigers and hurriedly sought
shelter. Soon after, the Sanyasi, who had first materialized before Rajasekara
in the forest, when he heard a child’s wails appeared again and revealed
Manikandan’s true identity to the wonder-struck Sovereign. The King grew silent
and pensive, as Manikandan approached the palace gates with the tigers. The boy
descended from the tiger’s back and informed the solemn King that he could get
the milk from the tigresses and cure the Queen of the mysterious ailment.
Unable to contain himself any longer, Rajasekara fell at the lad’s feet and
begged for forgiveness, he had finally seen through his Queen’s pretence; her
malady had ceased the moment Manikandan had left for the forest. On the day he
returned from the forest, Manikandan turned twelve years old.
King Rajasekara
decided to punish his Diwan as the latter was responsible for his son’s exile
into the forest. Manikandan, however advised restraint; he held that all had
unfolded in accordance with the divine order, through the will of God. Also he
reminded his father that as he had accomplished the task for which he had
created himself, he would return to Devaloka without fail. Before his
departure, the lad told the King that he as he was pleased by the latter’s
unflinching faith and devotion, he would grant him whatever boon Rajasekara
requested for. Immediately, the King Rajasekara told him that they wanted to
construct a temple in his memory and beseeched him to suggest a suitable place
for the temple. Manikandan aimed an arrow which fell at a place called sabari,
where in Sri Rama’s era a Sanyasini called sabari observed Dhavam. Lord
Manikandan told the King to build the temple in that place and then he
disappeared.
Later, acting upon
the advice of Saint Agasthya King Rajasekara laid the foundation stone of the
temple at Sabarimala. Lord Manikandan, had stated emphatically that he would
grace only those devotees who offer Darshan after observing fortyone days’
penance or vrtha that involves strict abstinence from family desires and
tastes; the devotees are expected to adhere to a way of life akin to that of a
brahmachari, constantly reflecting on the goodness of life. Whilst they make
their way up the steep slopes of Sabarimala, they adorn themselves with
three-eyed coconut and foodstuff/Aantha Garland in their heads, as the Bhagwan
did when he went to the forest to fetch tigress milk, and bathed in River Pampa
raising slogans of Saranam and climb the eighteen stairs.
King Rajasekara, in
due course of time completed the construction of the shrine and the sacred
eighteen stairs leading to the temple complex. As the King mulled over the
seemingly perplexing task of placing Dharmasastha’s idol in the temple for
darshan, he was reminded of the words of the Lord himself – the River Pampa is
a holy river as River Ganga, Sabarimala is as holy as Kasi – Dharmasastha sent
Parasuraman, who resurrected the land of Kerala from the bottom of the ocean,
to Sabarimala; it was he who carved the figure of Lord Ayyappa and installed it
on the day of Makarasankranthi.
Every year, millions
converge upon Sabarimala irrespective of caste or creed, with garlands and
irumudis, chant paeans to Lord Ayyappa, bathe in holy river Pampa, climb up the
eighteen stairs, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lord Ayyappa, the Dharmasastha.
The Jewel Casket is
carried on head from the ancestral residence of the royal family of Pandalam to
the Shrine on the day. A Garuda, the Brahaman kite, follows this ornaments-carrying
procession, hovering about in the sky, After these ornaments are worn on the
Lord the bird circles the temple in the sky three times and disappears. Excited
by this sight the devotees begin to chant “Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa”. A Star
never seen before in the sky appears on the day of Makarajyothi day before the
sighting of the Jyoti. A Jyoti is seen for a little time on the hilltop showing
the presence of Swami Ayyappan gracing his devotees