An age old discipline that is
still followed at Sabarimala is the ban on the entry of young women to the hill shrine. In
fact, eves are not allowed even in to the poonkavanam or forest around Sannidhanamm,
making Sabarimala
the only temple in India where women aged between 10 and 50 cannot visit.
The ban has always been a
controversial issue and a heavy demand to revoke it was raised by many a feminist
organisation.However, the Devaswom and other agencies connected with Sabarimala have been
successful in resisting this demand.One of the main reasons cited to justify this
traditional stand is the duration of period of penance. Tradition insists on 41-day severe
penance before undertaking the pilgrimage.The fact that it is womanly impossible to stick
on to a strict routine laid down against a conservative Hindu background, especially the
stigma attached to menstruation, is cited as one reason for restricting women's entry.
Similarly, the six-km trek from
Pamba to Sannidhanam through hazardous forest path is physically a demanding task.
However, this argument will not hold good in today's world abundant with examples of
Amazonian talents.
Presiding priest of Sabarimala
Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu points out the exact reason: ``Millions of devotees throng
Sabarimala during the pilgrimage. And presence of women among them can lead to law and
order
problems as not everybody, however ardent devotee he is, need not behave decently with
women.''The concept about Ayyappa as installed at Sabarimala is that of a brahmachari in
penance. The lore also says that he has vowed to remain a bachelor. People cite these
reasons also to justify the ban on women's entry.
AYYAPPA AND ILAYATHAMPURATTY KALLU:
The Ilayathampuratty Kallu, a small stone statue hidden by time in a niche on a wayside
rock, has nothing significant to catch the attention of devotees streaming to Pamba on the
Laha Road. For, not many realise that this statue believed to be that of a princess of the
Pandalam Palace stands as a warning post to women against undertaking a pilgrimage to
Sabarimala.The story goes that a young princess of the Pandalam family insisted on
accompanying the King on the first pilgrimage to Sabarimala even as other female members
of the family stopped their journey at Kakkad, near Laha.However, the princes couldn't
continue her journey from Laha due to unexpected menstrual problems. She informed the King
about it and said she would wait for them in the hut of a Kani tribal. (According to Hindu
beliefs, women shouldn't take part in any religious functions during menstruation.)And on
his return the King was shocked to see that the princess had turned into a granite statue.
The incident reminded him of Ayyappa's words that none without a 41-day penance should
visit the hill shrine.
The royal representative
accompanying the Thrivabharanam procession stops at the statue and offers pujas before
proceeding to Pamba. And as the procession winds its way towards the hill shrine, the
orphaned statue says a
silent adieu.
AYYAPPA AND MALIKAPPURAM:
A pilgrimage to Sabarimala is not complete without visiting to Malikappuram, shrine of
goddess at Sannidhanam. Though there are many stories about the relation between the Lord
and Malikappuram, the most heartrending is the one portraying the goddess as Ayyappa's
lover; certain rituals and practices underscore this theory.Mahishi was a demoness with
the face of buffalo who wreaked havoc among villagers and sages. None could kill her as
she was insulated with a boon that she shouldn't be killed by anyone born of man-woman
relation. Ayyappa is believed to be the son of Siva and Vishnu and the main objective of
his incarnation was to kill Mahishi.
After killing Mahishi at Erumely,
the Lord danced on her carcass. Then Leela, the previous birth of Mahishi, came out of the
dead body and bowed before Ayyappa with a request to marry her which was rejected by the
Lord,
who had embraced Brahmacharya.
But Ayyappa told Leela that he
would shed his sainthood if no new devotee visited him during a season. And she began her
wait at the adjoining shrine.On the Makarasamkramam day (first of MAlayalam month Makaram
falling in mid-January) after the Makaravilakku spectacle, idol of Malikappuram is taken
out in a procession accompanied by drums and pipes. The goddess comes on an elephant to
the pathinettampadi before proceeding to Saramkuthyaal, a pipal tree one km away from the
shrine. New devotees visiting the shrine deposit toy bows and arrows bought from Erumely
at this spot, believed to be where the Lord had left his weapons before merging with the
Sastha idol.
On reaching the spot the goddess
finds out that thousands of toy weapons are dumped at the spot announcing the arrival of
many new devotees. The drums fall silent as Malikappuram slowly makes her way back to
Sannidhanam
before she begins her one-year wait hoping that no new devotee would trek the mountain
next season. One more chapter is added to a celestial love story.
