Blessing in Disguise

Sabarimala. Lord Ayyappa’s temple is located on a hilltop in Sabarimala, amidst eighteen Sahyadri Hills. The pilgrimage begins in the month of November and ends in January and the shrine gets thronged during this period. About 50 to 60 million devotees visit this land of steep mountains and dense forests on an annual basis. The deity and devotees are known by the same name; ‘Ayyappa’ or ‘Swamy’. All are equal before the lord. The doors of the temple are opened to devotees of all faiths and religions. There is a shrine dedicated to the Muslim Saint Vavar at Sabarimala and a mosque at Erumely next to Ayyappa temple. The devotion of Vavarswamy to Ayyappa and the key role that the Islamic Masjid has in the Ayyappa pilgrimage, highlights the communal harmony in Kerala. The devotion of Vavarswamy also highlights the relevance of Ayyappa devotion for members of all faiths, and the equality shown to all, whether they are Muslims, Hindus or Christians.

I had been to Sabarimala a number of times before. When I was working in the CBI Kochi , I enquired with my colleague about an instant Sabarimala pilgrimage to which he readily agreed. We went to the Shiva mandir Ernakulam , followed the required rituals and proceeded by train to Chengannur. It was in November 1979 and the pilgrimage season had just started. From Chengannur there was no bus scheduled to Pampa and around 30 Ayyappas were waiting. We requested the KSRTC Station Master to arrange a bus and it was agreed to. After reaching Pampa and taking a dip in the river we started climbing up the mountain. All are equal before Lord Ayyappa. Whether rich or poor, literate or illiterate, elites or commoners; one has to climb the 6 KM steep mountain trails. Since we undertook the pilgrimage early during the season, there were only about 500 devotees and most of them were from Tamil Nadu.

We reached Sannidhanam to see a stagnant queue in multiline. Devotees were taking their own time to reach the sanctum Santorum. We could see the deity at a short distance and were waiting for our chance to be in front of it. We were carrying the ghee for abhishekam and a group of Ayyappas from Tamil Nadu were reciting and chanting, lighting camphor cubes in round steel tumblers. Our forward movement was totally blocked. While they were doing aarti by lighting camphor cubes in the steel tumbler, I added my camphor cubes in the steel tumbler for aarti. The Tamil Ayyappa group did not like this and they instantly removed the cubes that we had put in the tumbler and started shouting at us. This was an unusual behavior and was not expected by us or anyone present there as all Ayyappas do cooperate in every act. The commotion lasted for 2-3 minutes. The chaos and confusion attracted the Priest and his Assistant. The Assistant Priest with his long beard was constantly looking at us and he signaled us to come before the deity. He also requested the devotees to give way to both of us. Within seconds we were right in front of the deity. We could not believe this. Our pot of ghee was taken by him for the Abhishekam. We were given special Prasadam in an arrow root leaf and the Priest blessed us. We could spend enough time before the deity Lord Ayyappa and thus had a good darshan. Nowadays the devotees after observing strict religious rituals and days of long and tedious journey from far flung places, and a long wait in the queue for hours, despite adverse weather condition, reach Sannidhanam to get a Darshan of the deity only for 2-3 seconds.

While returning after darshan, the devotees especially the Tamil Ayyappa group was surprisingly looking at us. They asked for the Special Prasadam which we shared happily. While doing Pradakshina around the temple we saw the Priest’s Assistant again and we offered our respects. He was stroking his beard and continued to smile. He stared at me. His eyes were shining and he did not blink. Yes I have seen these eyes. I was trying to recollect. He eased out the situation and gave his name and said that he worked in Minicoy Police Station in Lakshadweep while I was the Inspector there. This was in 1972. He mentioned that he resigned the job later and that the priest was his brother in law. We thanked him. We thanked Lord Ayyappa. We also thanked the Tamil devotees.