Sabarimala: Umpteen Claims on the Eighteen Steps

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to all the true Sabarimala devotees. To those Lord Ayyappan devotees who embark upon the Sabarimala pilgrimage only after strictly observing the 41 days of abstinence. And to those Lord Ayyappan devotees who accept the Sabarimala Temple as a syncretic place of worship.

Preface

When the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict on September 28, 2018 permitting the entry of women of all ages into the temple of Lord Ayyappan at Sabarimala in the State of Kerala, it stirred a hornet’s nest. The tradition till then was that women in the reproductive age, from puberty to menopause, should not have darshan (glimpse of the deity for blessings) at the Sabarimala Temple and that tradition is claimed to be centuries old. Since women attain puberty and menopause at different ages, by tradition the banned age group was 10 to 50 years which the Kerala High Court had also affirmed through a verdict in the year 1991. That verdict of the Kerala High Court was challenged through a writ petition moved in the Supreme Court in the year 2006. It was the Supreme Court verdict on that petition which stirred the hornet’s nest. While delivering the verdict on that petition the Apex Court stated: The tradition of excluding women of menstruating age from worshiping at the Sabarimala Temple is unconstitutional because it violates the provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and therefore all women should be allowed to enter the temple.

The Supreme Court verdict not only got politicised and turned into a hot talking point across the country and abroad, it also triggered violence across Kerala for several days at a stretch. Right wing Hindu organisations led the protests against the implementation of the verdict under the label of devotees protecting the temple’s traditions. On the other hand, the Kerala government was duty-bound (and even allegedly adamant) to enforce the verdict on grounds that the Supreme Court verdict is law of the land. The verdict also gave rise to hot debates on whether the ban on women of menstruating age was really a tradition at the Sabarimala temple and whether the Sabarimala temple really was a Vedic Hindu temple in the past. Simultaneously conflicting versions on the origins of the temple’s mythical and historical aspects resurrected. This in turn led to the cropping up of clashing claims not only over the origins, traditions, customs and custody of the Sabarimala Temple but even the identity of the presiding deity.

While presently it is a famous Hindu temple with Vedic rituals in place, there are claims that in the past it was a Dravidian temple, that it was the temple of a hill god, that it was the temple of a warrior god, that it used to be a Buddhist shrine, that it was an Ayyanar (village god) temple, that it was a place of worship of an aboriginal tribe and so on. Perhaps no other place of worship in India may have so many conflicting claims over its origin. All the latter claims raise the allegation that the temple was usurped by Brahmins with the patronage of the ruling royalty of the past and then converted into a Puranic Hindu temple. Through this work, I intend presenting the panoramic background of the Sabarimala Temple encompassing its disputed mythical, historical, legal and other aspects.

I am a Catholic and 62 now, a native of Kollam (erstwhile Quilon) in Kerala. During my school days (the 1960s) I had always felt that the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage season was somehow synonymous with my Christmas vacations since both occur around the same time. Those days, a bit away from my house at an intersection called Kadappakada, there was a very small Lord Ayyappan shrine at the foot of a large peepal tree. The shrine was a structure standing not more than three feet in height, without a door and the idol of the deity was less than a foot in height. I don’t remember whether that idol was finished in granite, some metal or clay. The shrine had a priest; a bare-chested lean tall elderly man who always kept his head tonsured. Many including me were not aware of his name. Everyone called him Swami but never knew from where he turned up there since he had no relatives anywhere nearby. It was he who erected the shrine. The fact was that he took care of the shrine and the shrine took care of him. He was not a Brahmin and that Swami performing the rituals as a Hindu priest was a rare Hindu religious activity by a non-Brahmin those days. Every morning he could be seen religiously going around with a hooked goad and a cloth bag to harvest flowers that bloomed by the compound walls of houses in the locality. Those flowers were used for rituals at the shrine.

Except for a few regulars, the shrine was largely ignored and so was the Swami. But I remember some extra religious activity at the shrine during my Christmas vacations coinciding with the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage season. I had heard those days that the Sabarimala temple sits about 140 kilometers away from Quilon deep inside dense forests teeming with wild animals. The extra activities at the Kadappakada shrine were an annual affair that included folk songs dedicated to Lord Ayyappan rendered by different groups each day. They used to squat in front of the shrine after dusk and sing. Over the sound system, I could hear those songs from my house. Since the melody sounded attractive to me, I used to often go to the shrine and enjoy the songs live.

The Sabarimala pilgrimage season is a time when groups of male pilgrims wearing one or more bead chains, carrying the irumudi kettu (the twin pocket cloth travel kit carried on their heads by the pilgrims), their hair uncut and face unshaven for the past 41 days rhythmically chanting Swamiye Ayyappa… Swami Saranam… Ayyappa Saranam (Saranam means seeking refuge). They are on their way to the Sabarimala Temple soliciting the blessings of Lord Ayyappan. The pilgrims are called Swamis and they address each other also as Swami. The swamis undertake the pilgrimage after strictly observing abstinence for 41 days. Those days I don’t remember seeing Sabarimala pilgrims from Kerala clad in black attire. They were seen wearing the usual white attire and not the black attire which is considered as the Sabarimala pilgrimage dress code now. Photographs of pilgrims in Sabarimala taken during the early 1970s and earlier show most of them dressed in white. While embarking on the Sabarimala pilgrimage, it is customary for Swamis to pray at a Dharma Sastha (another name for Lord Ayyappan) temple if there is one near their house or en route before proceeding to Sabarimala. Pilgrims from the area where I lived prayed at the Kadappakada shrine before proceeding to Sabarimala.

The well-known Dharmasastha temples at Aryankavu, Kulathupuzha and Achankovil in Kollam district are traditional halts for Sabarimala pilgrims. Those days the journey usually began at night from my place enabling the pilgrims to reach the then base camp at Chalakkayam by day break. The Kerala government arranges frequent bus services to Chalakkayam from where the pilgrims reached Pamba, the main base camp, on foot and after a dip in the holy River Pamba, embarked upon a slow bare foot trek with strangers for the steep climb of about 5 kilometers to reach the temple. There are also pilgrims reaching Pamba through the longer pilgrim path from Erumeli and also from Vandiperiyar through Pulmedu. But now pilgrims are able to reach the Pamba base camp in their own vehicles.

With the commencement of the pilgrimage season, Sabarimala often became a timepass topic during breaks at school for some of my classmates. They were from families where the elders were preparing for the Sabarimala pilgrimage. They used to claim that only the courageous can undertake the Sabarimala pilgrimage and the courage for that was derived from the 41 days of abstinence, undertaken by pilgrims before embarking upon the pilgrimage. Abstinence for the Sabarimala pilgrimage entails no form physical relations with spouse, no intoxicating drinks and smoking, living in isolation from the rest of the family, refraining from interacting with women in daily life including those in the family, cooking one’s own food, maintaining hygiene including bathing twice a day before prayers, partaking of one meal a day and walking barefoot. Pilgrims went in big groups to Sabarimala those days to keep wild animals at bay. The belief was that when a group of swamis chant Swamiye Ayyappo… Swami Saranam… Ayyappa Saranam, wild animals turn wary and move away. Those days only a few thousand pilgrims reached Sabarimala daily during the start of the 61-days’ annual pilgrimage season from mid-November to mid-January. Since the pilgrimage involves a perilous barefoot journey through the forest terrain, the pilgrims also chant kallum mullum (stones and thorns) swamikku metha (a carpet for swamis) to get the feel of being comfortable and safe. The chanting starts right from the commencement the pilgrimage. I could see such groups of Sabarimala pilgrims when I with my family leave home for attending the midnight Christmas mass and sometimes while returning after the mass. In fact to me a good part of my Christmas holidays were replete with the Sabarimala pilgrimage aura and that is what made me feel that the Sabarimala pilgrimage season is synonymous with my Christmas vacations. All that had triggered an urge within me to go and see the Sabarimala Temple someday. That was also because the temple sat inside a forest. I had never seen a forest those days.

As a boy I had also heard the story of a supernatural manifestation called Makara Vilakku glowing shortly after dusk from a high elevation inaccessible forest area nestled on a hill called Ponnambalamedu on the last day of the 61 day annual pilgrimage season, usually on January 14 and sometimes on January 15. As though from a supernatural lighthouse, this light flickers three times in about fifteen seconds and immediately switches itself off. Nobody knew how the light glows and how it goes off. It was believed to be miraculous. This phenomenon gave Sabarimala Temple a unique mystical aura that other Hindu places of worship could not boast of. The light appearing from quite a long distance away on the opposite side of the Sabarimala Temple can be seen as a speck by pilgrims who are at Sabarimala and nearby areas. Devotees firmly believed that the light is divine and seeing the light is a direct blessing from Lord Ayyappan. But they also believed that the spot from where it glows is forbidden territory and any human being going anywhere near there is sure to meet with death. Someone at school once told me that during the colonial days an adventurous White man was determined to solve the mystery behind Makara Vilakku. The day previous to the appearance of that light one year, he set out through the forest with a gun to find out whether it was miraculous or not. But he never returned and that he could not be traced.

In the olden days the temple opened just for five days annually from January 10 for the Makara Vilakku rituals. The remaining 360 days it remained closed. During my lower primary school days the Sabarimala temple opened only for the Mandalakala-Makara Vilakku festivals held between mid-November and mid-January. For the rest of the year the temple remained shut. The bulk of the pilgrims at that time were from Kerala itself. Not many outside Kerala especially in the northern parts of the country were aware of a Lord Ayyappan temple inside the Sabarimala forests or the Sabarimala pilgrimage. While of late cash is one of the prime offerings made mostly by pilgrims arriving from outside Kerala who also now constitute the majority; till the early 1970s when the domination was by pilgrims from within Kerala, cash was an insignificant offering. Only a few coins prescribed as offering were knotted and kept inside the irumudi kettu. Those days the irumudi kettu of a Sabarimala pilgrim contained mostly the requirements he may need on his way to Sabarimala. The tying up the irumudi kettu is also a ritual called Kettumurukku. After that ritual the irumudi kettu is considered very scared. Knotted into two, it comprises three pockets. Offerings for the deity like raw rice, ghee, honey and coconuts are kept in the first pocket. Rice and other groceries meant to be cooked and consumed by the pilgrim in the last pocket and a small collection of utensils for cooking in the centre pocket. They used to gather firewood from the forest, make a hearth and cook. Devotees believe that the irumudi kettu is symbolic of a similar kit carried by Lord Ayyappan when he started his jungle trip from Pandalam for the purpose of killing a female demon or asura called Mahishi. During my school days it took at least three days for pilgrims from my place to have darshan at Sabarimala and return. Now pilgrims go early in the morning and return by evening. Even during my school days there used to be a big crowd of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu for witnessing Makara Vilakku phenomenon to receive the blessings of that miraculous light. Those days it was the Makara Vilakku that was the big draw at Sabarimala. For the majority of the pilgrims, being at Sabarimala on Makara Vilakku day was the real pilgrimage. It created a feel in them that they had seen god and that god had also seen and blessed them. On other days of the pilgrimage season till the early 1970s the flow used to be very thin, maybe a few thousand pilgrims each day.

In the 1901 Census of Travancore report, the Sabarimala Temple is described as a Sastha Temple which used to open only in January for a few days and that about ten thousand pilgrims went there at that time. The Indian Administrative Service officer, Late P.C. Alexander who had served as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and had also served as Governor of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, had way back in 1946 during his days as a college lecturer submitted a thesis to the Annamalai University. The thesis was titled Buddhism in Kerala and the University had conferred him with a Doctor of Letters degree for that work. In that thesis he had devoted a few pages to the Sabarimala Temple. In those pages he writes that the temple remains opens from the middle of November to the middle of January. Though it is an arduous journey to the temple, still, more than two and a half lakhs of pilgrims go there during those 61 days. That means about 5,000 pilgrims per day on an average at that time. But now the claim is that more than six million pilgrims go to the Sabarimala Temple annually during those 61 days alone and that means close to one lakh pilgrims each day on an average.

It was after the mid 1970s that the flow of pilgrims especially from the neighbouring States swelled. It is claimed that this flow had increased by about 200 times in the last four decades, the big majority of them from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. I had noticed this heavy flow of pilgrims to Sabarimala from outside the State while in College at Kochi (erstwhile Cochin) during the mid and late 1970s when I was at the railway station to reach home for the Christmas vacation. Almost all long distance up and down trains that arrived were packed with Sabarimala pilgrims clad in black. Apart from trains, thousands of pilgrims from outside Kerala were reaching Sabarimala by road too. It looked as though people from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were obsessed with Sabarimala during November–January. This rush was not to witness the Makara Vilakku phenomenon alone but for Lord Ayyappa darshan right from the start of the 61-day pilgrimage season. The rush reaches a crescendo for Makara Vilakku. Thousands of pilgrims reach Sabarimala a couple of days in advance and camp at the Sabarimala temple precincts and nearby areas. They leave only after seeing the Makara Vilakku. Those from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh clad in black do not wear any footwear as per their pilgrimage code right from the day they start their 41 days of abstinence. The sudden rush of pilgrims from outside Kerala was so huge that I had even over-heard people from Kerala grumble and pass derogatory comments at the outsiders. The core complaint was that the outsiders are the ones who pollute the base camps and the Pamba River the most. But once on pilgrimage there is no discrimination and that is the highlight of the Sabarimala pilgrimage. It is one of the few temples in India where traditionally people from all castes and creed can enter and pray though there is also the controversial tradition that women of reproductive age should not enter.

I remember during the late 1970s many people attributing this stunning influx of pilgrims to Sabarimala from mainly Tamil Nadu to the 1975 bilingual blockbuster Swamy Ayyappan. Though films based on the story of Lord Ayyappan had been released earlier, this one in Tamil and Malayalam had a significant impact on particularly the Tamil audience and was termed as an Ayyappan Epic. For that matter it is well known that the people of Tamil Nadu are easily influenced by films on all fronts. The film produced and directed by P. Subramaniam under the banner of Neela Productions was an Onam festival release in Kerala and simultaneously released in Tamil Nadu. It was a mega box office hit in both States. Apart from telling the story of Lord Ayyappa in a colourful and captivating manner, the film, laced with a couple of miracles linked to Sabarimala, succeeded in even triggering strong devotion among large sections of the Tamil audience towards Sabarimala. The film had thirteen songs out of which eleven were devotional and those Lord Ayyappan devotional songs are still very popular. The actual Sabarimala frames in the film capturing the strong emotions of real pilgrims were shot on the Makara Vilakku day of 1975 when the crowd was big. In Tamil Nadu large sections got carried away by the film. It is said that the success of the film at the box office also generated a Sabarimala movement of sorts in Tamil Nadu.

There used to be a notion in Tamil Nadu that the presiding deity at the Sabarimala temple is that of Ayyanar, a traditional village god in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka who emerged from folk traditions as the one who protects villages and villagers from misfortune. There are many such big and small Ayyanar temples across Tamil Nadu and so a feeling among Tamils why take the trouble of going to Sabarimala by undertaking an arduous journey to seek the blessings of Ayyanar when there are plenty of Ayyanar temples nearby. But since Makara Vilakku was considered miraculous, many went to witness the phenomenon on that day. The Swamy Ayyappan film strongly conveyed the message among Tamils that Lord Ayyappa is not Ayyanar but Hariharaputra or the son of Lord Shiva and Vishnu (in the female form as Mohini). It also sent the message across Tamil Nadu that one need not wait for the Makara Vilakku day to go to Sabarimala. The pilgrimage can be undertaken on any day between mid-November and mid-January when the temple is open. The film inadvertently marketed Sabarimala in Tamil Nadu.

Two studies conducted in Tamil Nadu, one in 1972 and the other in 1976, complement the argument that Sabarimala was not a sought after pilgrimage destination for Tamils till the mid-1970s. The studies were surveys christened South Indian Hindu deities and their relative following in Tamil Nadu. Both the studies were organised by the Statistics Department of the Madras Christian College. In the 1976 study, eighty students led by their faculty participated and it was carried out in about 400 villages. Lord Muruga topped in that study with 51.3 per cent of Hindu Tamils worshipping Him daily. He was followed by Perumal (Lord Vishnu) with 23.3 per cent and Lord Ganesh in the third position with 14.9 per cent. Other gods and goddesses named in the survey included Siva, Rama, Krishna, Saraswati, Durga and Lakshmi. Lord Ayyappan was nowhere in the picture by name in that study though He may have been in the other gods category showing 01.7 per cent. In the 1972 survey too Lord Muruga topped with 65.6 per cent. In that survey Lord Ganesh was in the second position and Perumal in the third position. In that study too there was no Lord Ayyappan mentioned by name. But if such a study were to be carried out in Tamil Nadu now, Lord Ayyappa would definitely be one among the first two.

In Kerala the Swamy Ayyappan film won four awards of the State government including the maiden award for the Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value. In return for all that, producer Subramaniam pumped a big portion of the profits from the film for constructing basic facilities for the pilgrims at the base camps and at the temple precincts. That was the first time infrastructure facilities for meeting some of the basic needs of the pilgrims were erected at Sabarimala. The song Harivarasanam sung by K. J. Yesudas in the film and tuned by G. Devarajan soon afterwards became part of the rituals at the Sabarimala Temple played every night during the sreekovil (inner sanctum) closing ceremony as a lullaby to Lord Ayyappan. With the arrival of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu in large numbers, the cash offerings made at the temple surged, eventually enabling the Sabarimala Temple to become one of the richest pilgrimage destinations of the country. The growing popularity of Sabarimala beyond Kerala borders improved the fortunes of not only the Sabarimala Temple but of other Dharma Sastha temples like the ones at Achankovil and Aryankavu dedicated to Lord Ayyappan. En route to Sabarimala, thousands of pilgrims from other States pray at these temples too as part of their pilgrimage. Back at Kadappakada the small Lord Ayyappan shrine under the large peepal tree had also undergone changes by the late 1970s. The little shrine was replaced with a bigger one and there was considerable growth in the number of devotees arriving there. This improved the fortunes of that temple too. The folk songs rendered earlier during the Sabarimala pilgrimage period during my school days were also replaced with a ten-day festivity that comprised cultural extravaganza attracting huge crowds. Later, when the peepal tree under which the shrine stood was felled for road development, a larger temple was built nearby with the saved income of the temple and contributions made by devotees. But the old swami was nowhere in the picture by then and now many may not remember or even know that he was the person who was instrumental in erecting the temple there.

While it is common knowledge that flow of pilgrims to growing pilgrimage destinations register phenomenal increase only with the improvement of infrastructure, transport and other facilities, at Sabarimala it was the other way round. Pilgrims had been pouring in there even when such facilities were not in place. The phenomenal increase in the flow of pilgrims and the accompanying surge in income that came through offerings compelled the managers of the Sabarimala temple to improve those requirements. But even now these requirements in place there are far from what is actually needed to even average levels. The temple situated inside the highly protected eco-sensitive Periyar Tiger Reserve is one of the main causes that stump provision of additional infrastructure and other facilities for pilgrims arriving there. The Sabarimala temple is one among the 1,248 temples managed by the Travancore Devaswom (estates of god) Board, an autonomous body of the Kerala State government and it is no secret that the Board and the Forest authorities are often at loggerheads over the Sabarimala temple pilgrim facilities development issue. That is because more forest land is required for the purpose.

The continuing increase in the volume of pilgrim flow also brought huge economic opportunities to the Board at Sabarimala. It also meant handsome personal income for the tantri (head priest) and the subordinate priests earned as dakshina (offering) given by the pilgrims. There had also been allegations that substantial portions from the income of the temple used to be diverted by successive governments for other purposes. The new economic opportunities at Sabarimala not only meant provision of shops, eateries and accommodation facilities within the temple precincts but also the opportunity to commercially tap the escalating devotion towards Lord Ayyappan. This was achieved through the medium of devaprashnam (an astrological ritual carried out to interpret the will of the presiding deity of a temple). Earlier the Sabarimala temple had no flag mast. But through devaprashnam a gold plated flag