QUESTION ANSWER DIVINE03-2022-03 Dear friends,
These are information compiledas QA by me in 1998’s-2004’s and stored in my computer. They are posted by very learnt members. BEINGCOMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS. Sincerely, R. Gopalakrishnan, 78, dated03-03-2022 Q1 Everybody knows the story of Sage Durvasagiving a garland to Indra and he puts iton Iravata’s neck and it got disturbed and pulled down and threw the garland. Durvasa became angry and his curse led to the decline of Indra and further ledto Palazhimanthan. Question-What was the context Durvasa gave the garland toIndra? A1 Indra,the king of Devas, grew arrogant once, and went to the extent of using hisweapon, Vajrayudha, against the Mount Kailasa the abode of Lord Siva. Puffed upwith pride he proceeded to the Mount on his vehicle, Airavata, the divineelephant. The sageDurvasas, who was pleased with Indra for his act of making flying mountains stand still by cuttingtheir wings (for, according to Puranas the mountains had wings) with hisweapon, gave him a divine garland made of the flowers of Kalpaka tree toIndra, who was seated on his elephant, on his victorious journey to Kailas,placed the garland on his elephant's head. Thefragrance of the garland attracted wild beetles which troubled the elephant whoin fury pulled the garland down and tore it into pieces. Durvasa, the angry sage, cursed Indraand all his subjects to be the victims of old age, which the divine beingsnever knew till then. This curseof Durvasa is the will of Lord Siva who was disturbed very much as he saw Indraproceeding to Mount Kailas. Q2 Is there a version about Palazhimanthan that Asuras snatched the nectarand went away and they were interrupted and got back the nectar by Vishnu?Donectar was butter?Do Lord Siva embraced Mohini? A2 The onlyway out to save the divine beings from growing old and suffering from the pangsof old age was totaste Amrita, the `butter' of the milky ocean And when theAmrita came out, the Asuras made away with it. In order to get back the samefor Devas, LordVisnu took the form of an enchantress, called Mohini, and approached Asuras Lord Sivaheard the story of Vishnu taking the attire of Mohini. He wished to see him inthat attire. Vishnu, of course, discouraged him, but Siva insisted upon hisdesire to see `Her', and Vishnu appeared before him in the attire of Mohini and was embraced bythe Lord. Thepuranic story ends with this incident. Lord Vishnu,it is said in Puranas, somehow released himself from the emotional grip of LordSiva and ran away. Then Siva realised the folly and returned to Kailas. In `Narayaniyam' there is a reference ofLord Siva embracing Vishnu Maya (Mohini), and Mohini running away from him. Had Bhattatiri known about the origin of Ayyappafrom Mohini, he would definitely have referred to the same. Q3 Do South Indian deities were not initiallyreccognised by Nampoothiries? A3 There areinnumerable instances of Dravidian deities like Kali, Nagas (Serpents), Matan etc, werenot originally treated as first rate gods to be propitiated directly by theNamputiri Brahmans. It took yearsof cold war between the Brahmans and Non-Brahmans for them to come to anagreement in the matter of giving recognition to the indigenous South Indiandeities. Even today there aremany shrines in Kerala dedicated to the Dravidian deities, where Non-Brahmanpriests perform the `Pujas' Though someNamputiri homes have serpents as their family deities, it is only once a yearthat the majority of serpent shrines spread all over the country receive `puja'offerings from a Namputiri priest. My note- Last part of the answer is not correct.Temples like Mannarsala, Vettikkot, Ameda, daily serpant worship is done byNampoothiries. Q4 How the Ayyappan cult would have beendeveloped? A4 Naturallyevery village will have its guardian deity, Ayyanar, as we have seen. And this Ayyanaris termed by Brahmins as Sasta. Today Sasta has become a synonym toAyyanar or Ayyappan, and both these names find no difference in theirimplication. Q5 Do there any truth in telling thatAyyappan is the adopted son of Pandalam king whom he obtained while on huntingin pamba area? A5 Thehistory of the royal family of Pandalam clearly reveals the fact that theAyyappa episode connected with the families cannot be placed before the 12thCentury A.D. Theprincipality of Pandalam came to existence only in the 12th century. Ithappened definitely during or after the hundred years war waged between Cholasand Pandyas. It is recorded in the family history of Pandalam that it is anoff-shoot of Pandyan royal family, settled in the forest area of the Westernghats. The Sasta shrine at Sabarimala had beenthere from time immemorial as the guardian deity of the people and rulers inand around forest area. WhenPandalam dynasty was established the then king accepted the Sasta at Sabarimalaas his family deity and ruled the newly formed principality as a devotee ofSasta. ( I just have a thinking why beforeSK Nair others have not thought of it-( Answer is from SK Nair’s write up) It was atthis time that a tribal chief Udayanan, whose fort was at Karimalai Mount nearSabarimala destroyed the shrine of Sasta to bring down the might of the king ofPandalam, for it was believed that the king of Pandalam would be invincible aslong as Sabarimala shrine remained in all its sanctity and prosperity. His next intention was to attack the land of Pandalam, which was cleverly and successfully battled by thetimely interference of a Namputiri youth, son of the chief priest ofSabarimalai shrine. Somehow Udayanan escaped with the sister of the king ofPandalam, who was later on saved from the villain by the very same Namputiriyouth.( In Kerala earlier History Nampoothiri Brahmins have been told withwarrier culture ) Thestory thereafter, is really interesting and to some extent mysterious too. It is said that the Namputiri youth married theprincess of Pantalam by Gandharva system and a son born to them wasnamed after the deity of Sabarimalai. He was known as Ayyappan Manikantan, andwas brought up by the parents living incognito in a cave at Ponnampala Mount,very close to Sabarimala. Ayyappan wasgiven adequate training both in scriptures and warfare by his able father, theNamputiri. It was the intention of the father to bring him up in perfectmilitary discipline with sufficient background in spiritual matters. WhenAyyappan finished his spiritual and physical education his father thought thatit was the ripe time for him to be sent to his own palace. All details abouthis birth and bringing up were written in a letter addressed to the king ofPandalam. He sentPrince Ayyappan to his uncle's palace. Of course the king felt over joyous whenhe came to know about his sister, believed to be lost for ever. At the sametime he could not recognize openly the prince Ayyappa as his own nephew forfear of social ostracism. The king was thus forced to keep to himself theidentity of his own nephew. Ayyappan, the youngprince was a pet to one and all except to the minister and a few of hisconfederates When Ayyappan was declared as the 'Prince of Wales' by theking, the minister received a shock, and thenceforth he began spreadingscandals about the prince It was at this time that Ayyappan had anencounter with the Muslim hero Vavar, who became his best friend. Heco-operated with the prince to do away with the undesirable elements in thecountry. Once theminister was actually caught red handed by the twin brothers, Ayyappan andVavar, when he tried to establish alliance with Udayanan, the villain of thestory. Ofcourse the minister was pardoned although he was then marked as a fifthcolumnist by Ayyappan Alternatingthrough the queen Knowing her mentality thoroughly well, the clever andscheming minister conspired to her an ugly news that this youth, now being made the next heirapparent to the throne, was an illegitimate son of the king from a low caste Marava woman. This was beyond the endurance of thequeen.At the instance of the minister she agreed to be seriously ill with acutestomach ache. The wicked minister, by the time, managed to influence an equallywicked physician who prescribed a curious remedy, a cup of fresh milk ofleopard. Every one was startled at this, and the prince knowing the situationthoroughly volunteered to bring any number of milch leopards. Prince Ayyappan could easily bring a fewmilch leopard to the palace. Every one was so much surprised andterrified that all of them in one voice cried out "Saranam Ayyappa' tomean `refuge at the feet of Lord Ayyappa'. Prince Ayyappa, then advised the king toinstall the idol de-consecrated by Udayanan. On the first day of the month of Makaram when the sun moved from the zodiac of Dhanus to that ofMakaram, the re-installation of the idol was ceremoniously conducted. Soon afterthe ceremony was over, it is said, the prince Ayyappa disappeared and is still believed by thedevotees that he has become one with the Lord of Sabarimala. The presentation appear 100 %convincing as we have already incidents of Andal, Mirabai ,Sankarachariar,Ramalinga Adigal etc. Like this becoming one with God Thence forthon this particular auspicious day the devotees led by the king of Pandalam madeit a regular routine to visit Sabarimalai and make offerings to the Lord.Incidently there areno stories of earlier Pilgrimage to sabarimali. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/915546270.379202.1646293020205%40mail.yahoo.com.
