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While thinking about Lord Ayyappan, the first thing that comes to mind is the powerful presence represented by Sabarimala that has a celibate deity. But in hundreds of temples such as Thiruvullakkavu, Chammaravattam, Thrikkunnapuzha and Thakazhi, Ayyappan could be seen along with a wife, worshipped as a grihastha. While women have restricted access in Sabarimala, in some places he is the deity of women. M N Srinivas notes that “in Begur in Nalknad, he appears as the deity of the Medas, or Basketry-makers … in the neighbouring village of Balmavti, Ayyappa is the deity of women”. Srinivas adds that this is a lore in which Ayyappan is not associated with the usual masculine trait of hunting and in certain places Ayyappan appears as the deity of the lower caste: “A striking difference between the Tamil and the Malayalam country is that Ayyappa is a village-deity in the former, worshipped chiefly by the low castes. In the Kerala country on the other hand, he is worshipped by all from the highest to the lowest, Nambutri Brahmins are priests at his temples, and only vegetarian offerings can be made” (“A Brief Note on Ayyappa, the South Indian Deity,” Collected Essays , 2005)
In the discourse on Sabarimala the historical and puranic narratives seem to filter into each other at some point of time. The various aspects of the two narratives are used to construct the Vedic present. Coming to the mythical aspect, there seems to be an intermingling of the puranic and the historical versions so as to construct a certain past which may be seen to be Vedic. Similar narratives find expression in cinematic representations like Sabarimala Shri Ayyappan (Dir. Renuka, 1990), Sabarimalayil Thanka Sooryodhayam (Dir. K. Shankar) etc. Take for instance the slaying of Mahishi, the she-buffalo demon. Kancha Illiah, in Buffalo Nationalism: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism, talks of the ways in which the hatred towards the black buffalo represents the anti Dalit position of Vedic discourse. “Cow nationalism is a dangerous anti-Dravidian and anti-Dalit Bahujan ideology. It delegitimized Dravidian black beauty and plurality of food culture.” Mahishi, after being killed, is released from her curse and attains her normal human form whereby she proposes to Ayyappan to accept her. Ayyappan denies her but at the same time offers a place near him in Sabarimala where she can wait for him until the moment when no kanniswami (debutant pilgrim) comes to Sabarimala. As long as a kanniswami goes to Sabarimala, he can abstain from marrying Malikapurathamma. It is the duty of every believer to go to Sambarimala at least once so as to protect Ayyappan from the female deity Malikapurathamma! Thus the very ideology of Sabarimala pilgrimage is based on exclusion of women.
Coming to the ‘secular’, the much celebrated Vavar mosque is not situated at Sabarimala proper, but at Erumeli which is only one of the places that one passes on “his” way to Sabarimala. Here Vavar and Ayyappan are supposed to coexist in amity along with Karuppu Swami and it is believed that without visiting the mosque of Vavar the pilgrimage would be incomplete. At the same time, the Ayyappa discourse vividly describes Vavar as being defeated and thereby forced to follow Ayyappa. It is the defeated Vavar that is quite emphatically represented as a friend and accomplice of Ayyappa.
Shri Ayyappan, a tourist guide has an interesting description of Ayyappa having a fight with a certain Mohammedan who had come to Kerala coast from Arabia for plundering. It was this Muslim who later came to be known as Vavar Swami. It describes him as having converted into a noble man under the influence of Ayyappan. Most of the films on Ayyappan follow similar lines. Shri Ayyappanum Vavarum (Dir. Suresh, 1982) narrates Vavar as being satisfied in guarding the 18 steps.
The pilgrims of different caste, class, religion, etc., who reach the shrine are welcomed by the Sanskrit words THATH THVAM ASI which essentially defines a Vedic vision of a supreme reality. This statement – “You are essentially that, the Supreme Reality” – is one of the four maha vakyas of the Veda. The whole pilgrimage, thus, represents an experiencing of advaita. It is based on a symbolic negation of all differentiations and the recognition of the harmony of Supreme Divinity in everyone.The official site of Sabarimala has a vivid description of how Parasurama established 5 shastha kshethrams in the hilly terrains of Kulathupuzhiva, Aaryankkavu, Achankovil, Sabarimala and Erumeli, apart from 108 Sivalayams and 108 Durgalayams for the Brahmins to follow their traditional practices and how he had assigned the port folio of the mel thanthris to the male members of Thazhamon Madam, Chengannur, Kerala. Also the image of Ayyappa in his particular posture—one involving the Chinmudra and Veerasanam is supposed to be attributed by Parasuraman.
It is the same image that is represented in books, tourist guides, films, television serials etc. Both devotional songs and film songs are based on the puranic narrative. The title song of the serial telecast in Asianet, Swami Ayyappan, narrates the various dimensions of Ayyappan’s life which involves his birth as Hariharasuthan, his adoption by the Pandalam king, his killing of Mahishi, his defeat of Vavar and the final transformation into the deity. Incidents from both the puranic and historical discourses appear fused together in this narrative. As the name suggests, it is a serial on Ayyappan rather than Sabarimala but here too, the names are something that are interchangeable.
We may bear in mind how the serialization of the Ramayana had influenced the Hindutva movement apart from the weight that it granted to Doordarshan. It was the perceived truth of a golden Hindu past, declared week after week, that the religious nationalist mobilization eventually seized. Probably, the ‘secular’ Sabarimala cannot be disposed of lightly either by the government or the devotees. For the former, it is an immense source of income, and for the latter, the refuge that Sabarimala offers in terms of brotherhood of masculinities as well as the sense of belonging in terms of being modern may be quite significant.
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June 28th, 2009 at 7:35 PM
This confusion (whether Ayyappa was celibate or not) is because of the confusion between the two words, Sastha and Ayyappa. While Sastha is a deity (or deities) worshiped in various temples, one is not sure if we could unproblematically collapse him/them with Ayyappa. The word Sastha is perhas a ‘corrupted’ version of the sanskrit word “shresta” meaning ‘the better one.’ But it could also be a sanskritized version of the word “chathan’ a deity worshipped all over the Kerala region. Chathan or Sastha could be a generic name used to refer to localized deities of a particular category, which could be the reason why Ayyappa of Sabarimalai also is considered as a Sastha. The elaborate myth of tiger’s milk and mahishi, associated with Ayyappa of sabarimala, is rearely associated with the deities of other sasatha temples (which all have their own local legends).
For example, the Sastha of Karamukku is one of the deities (the only male deity) who comes to Trichur pooram (which is otherwise a conference of the various Bhagavathis). This Sastha is considered as geriartirc and weak. So, his ‘ezhunnellippu’ begins before the sunrise and it returns to the temple before the morning sun becomes strong. This is because he is not healthy enough to bear the hot sun.
Sastha of Aryankavu (if I am not mistaken) is a grihasthan with two wives, Poorna and Pushkala.
Could they all be the same “Ayyappa’?
June 29th, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Hope you’d also look into the arguments that:
a, Sabarimala Ayyapan was the clan god of the tribe Malayarayas and,
b,that Sabarimala temple was a Buddhist shrine; both pointing towards the aggressive Hinduisation lead by Sankara.
Speaking of masculinities one wish u could’ve referred to readings about the mythical birth of Ayyapan – the Siva-Vishnu/Mohini consummation – and that Sabarimala could be a homo-social pilgrim space.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Isn’t it amusing that the hyper-masculine God Ayyappa is shorn of all celebrated symbols of maleness. In all the popular iconographies the Lord, borne out of the unnatural/illegitimate wedlock of two male deities Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva), like most Hindu gods, appears without a moustache. Add to it the flowing locks and the absence of facial hair, in stark contrast to an Ayyappa pilgrim. The half-squat/asana too appears erotically suggestive. Is it a coincidence that the irumudikkettu filled with ghee-coconuts is shaped like a scrotal sac? Or am I reading too much into the visual symbolism?
How did Ayyappa, the erotic/ascetic, warrior/saint who eternally postpones the congress with the polluting lover woman (Malikaurattamma) become the centre point of constructon of Malayali (and pan South Indian) male identity? One argument is that the figure epitomises a middle path for problems arising out of one of the prominent dichotomies embedded in Hindu male’s religious psyche – the renouncer/householder. Lord Ayyappa is a renouncer who dreads to be a householder and his celibacy is the secret power that makes him the provider. His devotee is the average householder who periodically flirts with renunciation, so that he becomes potent again as a provider.
Anyone who doesn’t fit in are mocked like the protagonist in Sreenivasan’s Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala.
As Subhash says It would also be interesting to probe the Lord Ayyappa archetype as an arayan god as opposed to an Aryan God.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:01 PM
A correction: the Sastha who participates in Trichur pooram is not from Karamukku but the Kanimangalam temple, considered as geriatric and weak.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:42 PM
Sanjeev, your comments sounds like you are on a review panel when Shyma is presenting this paper. Otherwise, what does it mean to say “Hope you’d also look into the arguments that..” or “Speaking of masculinities one wish u could’ve referred to..”? Or was that an editorial comment? I would like to see fishpond more as a place where ideas come in and ideas take shape..
June 30th, 2009 at 11:41 AM
hi murali
thanks for the those interesting comments.but i would also like to add that rather than look at the confusion whether Ayyappan was a celibate or not my focus was more on why the celibate Ayyappan becomes the representative of Ayyappan in popular imagination.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Mr.sudeep,you may take it as either/both.
does it in any way threaten your ideal fishpond?
June 30th, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Shyma, if we consider the argument that Sabarimala was a Buddhist shrine, is it possible that Malikappuratthamma was also not so much a symbol of exclusion? (I’d like to find out if there has been research on ‘original’ Malikappurathamma also).
The Kerala government had sometime back made a request to open Sabarimala to women of all ages.. Anyone knows what happened to that?
June 30th, 2009 at 1:29 PM
i have no idea to whom those pieces you were reffering to have been sent or who rejected it. and i hope this undermines your allegation that fishpond is mine.
PS:thanks for those wonderful tips on editing.i’d always cherish them.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Possible. That probably shows the lack of clarity within the “selectors”. Ok I take back the allegation that fishpond is yours:-)
(PS: The tips was not on editing. It was about commenting on an article after it is published here.)
June 30th, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Kerala govt did not make any request to allow women to sabarimala. and who are they to make requests, they are supposed to take decisions. Let God save Sudhakaran if he is waiting for a consensus to evolve among devotees.
Devaswom minister is ok with letting women, BJP leaders like Rajagopal have openly expressed their support. Its just thepriests and rahul easwer generations who are opposed to it.
It is the time now to hit the nail. Allow women and if see if Ayyappa wants to move out.
December 7th, 2010 at 10:42 AM
As a woman who wanted to go to Sabarimala when all my senses and limbs were in my control,I found the comments on this blog interesting.And I think the original “pilgrims” to the temple were a group of males who wanted to have a few days of freedom ,away from their families and its responsibilities.The black dhothies and beard provided camoflage in the forest.The rice and coconut in the irumudikettu must have been their food stock,and ghee could have had use as food, and fuel to light a fire ,for warmth, and to keep away animals.Did rahul easwar protest against women Pilgrims to sabarimal?Thought he was a liberal?Again although most of our Hindu Gods seem to be from lower classes-Krishna,a yadava,Shiva with wild locks and snake,a malavedda(S.Tribe) ,and Ayyappa,begotted out of thes two, we still need brahmins and nampoothiris to do poojas to them .Why?