Jain Journal 1983 07

SR No.: 520071
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1983
Total Pages: 47
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 3 MB

Page 24

Sabarimalai
V. G. NAIR
Sabarimalai is an ancient hill of Kerala. About forty years ago this hill was surrounded by dense forest haunted by wild animals. Today Hindus have a temple on the top of the hill. The deity of this temple is known as Ayyappan-God Father. Travel on foot was unsafe and hazardous for many centuries. But vehicular roads have been opened providing transportation facilities to reach the hill.
The antiquity of Sabarimalai dates back between 2000 and 2500 years before Christ. Today this hill temple of Ayyappan has become the most renowned centre of pilgrimage to Hindus from all parts of India. Jains, Christians, foreigners and even Muslims visit the hill especially during the Makara Vilakku, the festival of Lights. More than three million pilgrims throng the hill to participate in the Makara Vilakku festival, an annual event of great religious importance in Kerala.
During the Makara Vilakku night a celestial phenomenon would appear on the sky. This phenomenon is in the shape of a lustrous star with a tiny tail. This radiating star could be visible to all for a few minutes and it would disappear in the sky. This phenomenon is called Makara Jyothi, the flame of supernatural light emanating from the heavenly world. According to legends, this flame had been appearing every year from time immemorial.
Sabarimalai has undergone three stages of religious transformation from Jainism to Buddhism and then to Hinduism. Ayyappan worshipped by the Hindus is not the personal name of any Vedic-Hindu God but a symbol of unification of all gods. The name of Ayyappan is untraceable in the Hindu religious scriptures. The word is classical Tamil spoken by the people of Kerala and Tamilnad several centuries ago. Ayyappan etmologically meant Mahadeva or Adideva, the first God Father and Protector.
The ancient inhabitants of Sabarimalai and its surrounding areas were hill tribes-Panchamos or Anaryas of Vedic India. They were an organised community and led an independent existence outside the pale of Vedic society. There is evidence to prove that even in those remote ages Arhant Dharma or Jainism prevailed in Kerala including Sabarimalai. Those hoary days were early centuries of Aryan penetration in South India.