Sabarimala is the temple where maximum pilgrims (devotees)
visit in Kerala on annual basis. In the entire South India this is the 2nd
busiest temple after the Tirumala Thirupathi Srinivasa temple in Andhra
Pradesh. Sabarimala is a hill shrine has
to be reached by walk and climb of steep hills of the western Ghat ranges in
the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala State in India. The vehicle to the temple
can go only up to the holy Pampa River. The Sabarimala Temple is dedicated to
the Lord Ayyappa who is the incarnation of the Lord Sri Dharma Sastha. The
temple is not open on all the 365 days of the year unlike other temples of
Kerala. The Main period of worship is during the Mandala pooja times which
starts around November middle and ends in the last week of December. After that
the temple will be closed for few days and will open again during the 1st
week of January.
Sabarimala temple is a unique temple in India
This is a unique temple and may be the only one or one of
the very few temples in India where any person irrespective of the religion,
caste, community can go and offer worship. The only exception is that women
between the age of 10 and 50 are not allowed to offer worship and are not
allowed in the temple. The reason is that the period of menses may interfere
and since strict observance of abstaining is required the presence of the women
may create problem, for the other devotees. For the normal prescribed way of worship
and pooja at this temple strict adherence of prescribe code of life is to be followed.
Once the devotee wears the garland of beads known as ‘Mudra garland’ he/she is
called by all as Ayyappa Swamy or Swamy or Ayyappa irrespective religion,
caste, creed or community or age or sex by everybody. That person is identified
with the Lord. There are 2 types of devotees or pilgrims who visit the temple. This
is in tune with the Hindu philosophy of ‘Adwaith’ (non dual - that is god and
self is one and the same). When one climbs the 18 steps to enter the temple
complex the first thing on which the eye falls is a board at the entrance of the
temple building with the word ‘Thathwamasi’ (meaning you are that – that means
god) One group is the casual pilgrims who may be about 10 to 15 % only of the total
devotees worshiping here, who go there and just worship and come. They have separate
entrance to the premises of the shrine. The other group the main group
comprising 85 to 90 % of the devotees go through the eighteen steps to be climbed
to enter the shrine. This entrance is
allowed only to those devotees who observe the code of the temple prescribed
for the devotees.
The code includes the color of the dress which can be
black, saffron or yellow. These devotees have to observe certain minimum conditions.
They include the abstinence from all sensual pleasures like sex, non vegetarian
food, smoking and drinking liquors etc. They have to get up early in the
morning before 5 am take bath, go to a temple nearby to pray and come home and
do some pooja and Bhajans for some time. Then only they can have their
coffee/tea or the lite refreshments. As far as possible they should avoid going
out and spent time thinking about the almighty or good things only. If they go
out they have to take bath on entering the house. They can have light lunch of
simple food. Evenings they have o take bath and go to temples and pray and
worship at home. This code was supposed to be observed for a ‘Mandala’ period.
A Mandala period is 41 days. At the end of this period only the devotees are to
climb the 18 steps to the temple. But now it is not strictly followed. It can
be from to more than 41 days according to the intensity of the devotion of the
pilgrim. When the code is to start the devotee has to wear a garland of beads
mostly of dry Thulasi stems or Rudraksha beads. If the devotee is going for the
first time, he has to take the vratha under an experienced guru (teacher) who
is one have visited the Sabarimala temple for 18 times observing the codes. These
are only the brief details and the actual observance is more elaborate and
severe.
Iru mudi kettu (means 2 knotted bundles). As the name
suggest the devotee has to carry a bundle of 2 knots. One knot contains the
item for worship at the temple and on the way shrines. The other is the
personal belongings. The filling up of this Irumudi kettu is known as the kettu
Nirakkal (filling up of the bundle). This has to be done under the guidance of
the Guruswamy.
The Mandala pooja is done during the period Mandala. Though Mandala
means 41 days usually the period of Mandala is observed from the 1st
of Malayalam month named Vrischika (Scorpio zodiac) and continues up to 11 days
of the next month of Dhanu (Sagittarius zodiac). This period normally falls
from mid November to the end week of December. On these days there will be daily poojas in
the temple and devotees can go and worship. On the last day of the Mandala a
special pooja called the Mandala pooja will be performed. After this the temple
will be closed for few days. Again it will be opened from the 1st
week of January to the 15th of January for the Makara vilakku
poojas.
Makara vilakku festival is the most important festival of
the Sabarimala temple. During this period the temple will have the maximum number
of pilgrims visiting and the maximum congregation on any single day will be on
the Makara vilakku day. The festival culminates in the Makara vilakku functions.
Makara vilakku is a ritual of the temple of lighting of a huge quantity of
camphor on the nearby hill known as the Ponnambala medu which is at the back side
of Sabarimala shrine at a distance of 4 km. The lighted camphor can be seen at Sabarimala across the
distance of 4 km. The light will appear like flickering due to the flame o the
camphor. This was earlier mistaken as the Makara Jyoti for a long period till
2008 when the temple authorities explained that it is a man made camphor fire at
the time of the Makara Samkramam (transition of Sun from the zodiac Sagittarius
to Capricorn). The transition time of Sun into the Makara month (Capricorn) is
known as the Makara Samkramam. Makara Samkramam is a very important holy day
for the entire Hindus. This is the day when the Utharayana (northern hemisphere
– celestial) period. This period is till the Karkataka Samkramam which is also
very important to the Hindus. From the Karkataka Samkramam to Makara Samkramam
it is Dakshinayanam period. The lighting of the camphor at the Samkramam is the
Makara vilakku. The camphor fire light will appear three times around 6.30 pm
on the Samkranthi day usually it falls on the 14th of January but
this year it is falling on the 15th of January. How it is done is to light the camphor and
after a few seconds the flame will be extinguished by use of wet gunny bags
throwing over the camphor fire. After a gape of some seconds the process will
be repeated 2 more times so that the light appears thrice. There is
coordination between the Sabarimala temple priest and the person responsible at
the Ponnambala medu to synchronize the actions of both the places. The third
time light will coincide with the opening of the Sanctum door at Sabarimala
temple to do the deeparadhana (aarathi) to the lord in the presence of about a
million devotees. At the time of the Samkramam a star will appear in the sky
which is the Makara star. This is known as the Makara Jyoti.
The next day after the usual connected functions like the
Malikapurathamma procession and Guruthi pooja the temple will close.
The temple does not open of all days of all the months.
Apart from the above mentioned festival times of Mandala pooja and Makara
vilakku festivals the temple will open only on the 1st of every
Malayalam calendar moths for 5 days when the devotees may go and offer the
worship.
