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My childhood memory of the ‘Makara Vilakku’ at Sabarimala has been its live telecast on TV. My mother, sister and I would be planted in front
of the television watching the Thiruvabharanam procession and the appearance of the ‘makara vilakku’ on the Ponnambalamedu hills with utmost devotion. These memories came back to me a few days ago while visiting the Ayyappa temple at HAL, Bengaluru. It was also time for me to write the next story for this blog and so within the HAL Ayyappa temple premises, I resolved to write about the legend of Lord Ayyappa. However, since the story of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala is very popular, I figured that it was best to retell the story of ‘Sasthamkotta’ as narrated by Kottarathil Sankunni in his book ‘Aithihyamala’.
Sasthamkotta, in the the present day Kollam district of
Kerala is home to the ‘Sri Dharmasastha temple’, one of the five famous Sastha temples in Kerala, the others being - ‘Achankovil’, ‘Aryankavu’, ‘Kulathupuzha’ and
‘Sabarimala’. Legend has it that the Pandalam Kings made it a practice to visit Sabarimala and worship the Dharma Sastha once every year. However, one of the young Kings of Pandalam married into the royal family of Kayamkulam and shifted his residence there. After the marriage, the King didn’t return to Pandalam for twelve long years nor did he visit Sabarimala as it was the tradition then.
Soon the Pandalam King started having nightmares and cried out loudly in his sleep. He’d shout
out things like “Oh, here comes the tiger!” “The tiger has a cub!”. This continued several nights
and no one in the palace could get a wink of sleep. The King of Kayamkulam, exasperated by
his son in law’s condition, summoned him and ordered him to return to Pandalam and come
back only when cured of these nightmares. The insulted Pandalam King felt extremely
humiliated and had no other choice but to leave immediately.
That night the Pandalam King had another dream, but different from his earlier ones. In his
dream he saw a brahmin telling him, “You have not worshiped your family deity in the last twelve
years. The tiger that you saw in your dreams is nothing but the companion of the Lord of
Sabarimala. You must go to Sabarimala and worship the Sastha for twelve days and thereafter
continue your worship every month on a special Monday. If you do as instructed, you will be
cured. Also, since the King of Kayamkulam insulted you, he will be punished appropriately.”
The King woke up and realized that it was no ordinary dream and the brahmins' instructions
were the supreme order of the Lord of Sabarimala himself. So he promised his beloved wife that
he’d return immediately after the twelve days of worship at Sabarimala and bid her farewell. In
the meantime, there was a reversal of fortunes and the King of Kayamkulam started showing
signs of mental illness. He kept repeating “Oh, here comes the tiger!” “The tiger has a cub!” and
neglected his royal duties. Several physicians tried curing the King’s illness, but none
succeeded. Then the royal astrologers calculated that the King had incurred the wrath of the
Lord of Sabarimala by insulting his beloved devotee - the Pandalam King. As penance, the
astrologers prescribed that the ailing King must offer his prayers and a hundred and one gold
coins to the Sabarimala treasury. The prayers and offerings were made as instructed and very
soon the King of Kayamkulam made a marvelous recovery.
Meanwhile, the Pandalam King had a beautiful gold crown and necklace studded with precious
stones made for the Lord of Sabarimala. He then visited Sabarimala, offered the crown and
necklace to the Lord and spent twelve days in prayer with complete devotion. On the twelfth
night, he had a dream where the same brahmin who had come in his earlier dream said “Didn’t
you give your word to the Queen that you’d return to her after twelve days? It's not good to
break a promise. There is a horse outside. Get on it immediately and you will reach your Queen
in time.’ The King woke up instantly, got ready and mounted the horse outside. The horse took
him to the Queen’s palace, the King got down and the horse vanished instantaneously. The
Queen was delighted to be reunited with the King.
The next day, the King of Kayamkulam heard about the return of his son-in-law and eagerly
came to meet him. He sought forgiveness for having insulted him and requested that he
continue to stay here with his beautiful Queen. The Pandalam King agreed and stayed on in
Kayamkulam happily with his Queen. Over the next few days, the Pandalam King remembered
his dream about the special Monday prayers which he had to do every month. The royal couple
was sad that they had to be separated every month when the King had to visit Sabarimala to
offer his special Monday prayers. That night the King had a dream with a young stranger in it.
The stranger in the dream told him “ Do not be sad. You do not have to leave your dear wife
every month to visit me at Sabarimala. I shall come to stay close to you somewhere nearby.’
A few days after this dream, it was time for the Martial Arts Contest hosted annually by the King
of Kayamkulam. The winners in various competitions were given awards that included gold,
jewelry and land. Hence this event attracted several young men and warriors from far and wide.
This year’s event was graced by one such distinguished looking young man, who triumphed
against his adversaries in all the events. Pleased with the young man’s performance, the King
said “What shall I give you as a gift? I am ready to give you anything you ask”. To this the young
man replied “I shall shoot an arrow from here now. The spot where the arrow lands and 12 miles
around it may be granted as tax free land to me.” The King agreed and the young man took up
his bow, turned to the east and shot the arrow.
The young man was joined by the Pandalam King and some associates in the expedition to find
the arrow. They traveled several miles to the east and reached a place where there were a lot of
cows and Oxen grazing. One of the bulls, disturbed by the approaching crowd, charged at the
Pandalam King. When all the warriors ran for their lives, the handsome young warrior who had
shot the arrow bravely confronted the bull and forced it down, thus saving the King. The spot
where this incident took place is called the ‘Kaala Kuththi lake’ even today, Kaala means Bull
and Kuththi means ‘to attack’. After the incident, they continued the search and when it became
dark, the King and the young man decided to rest on some rocks there. It is said that the
footprints of the divine young man on the rocks are seen even today and hence this spot is
called ‘thrippadam’ meaning sacred feet.
The next day, the King and his young companion continued their search for the Arrow. They
soon arrived at an island on the backwaters and were delighted to find the arrow on this island.
The young man used a tree trunk floating on the backwaters to ferry them both to the island. On
arriving at the island, the King turned back towards his companion, but the young man had
vanished. To the King's amazement, he also noticed that the tree trunk was actually a crocodile
that was swimming in the backwaters and not a dead tree. Spellbound, the King realized that
the young man was none other than his family deity, the Lord of Sabarimala himself and filled
with love and devotion he worshiped him. Right then on the far end of the island he saw a stone
adorned with the same crown and necklace that he had offered to the Sabarimala Sastha. Filled
with wonder, the Pandalam King prostrated in front of the idol and worshiped the Lord. Just then
he heard the sound of a Conch and saw a man sitting in front of the statue performing pooja and
surrounded by monkeys bowing humbly in worship. When the King stood up from his prayers,
the priest offered him holy water and prasadam.
Suddenly, a brahmin with a divine aura appeared there and said “ My Son, are you happy now?
As I had promised, you don't need to climb the hill every month to see me. Build a temple and
offer your prayers here. Let this same priest carry on the pooja, the Maraar who blew the conch
will be the temple attendant, the crocodile that ferried you, these monkeys and the fishes in this
lake are my followers. You must take care of them. If anyone harasses them, I shall punish
them.’ Saying so, the brahmin vanished. Since the island and lake were within the territory of
the King of Kayamkulam, a temple was built in the sacred spot. A stone bridge was constructed
to connect the island and the mainland. A palace for the Pandalam King and Queen, and
separate houses for the priest and attendants were built. Enough money was set aside for the
temple's upkeep and the care of the wild animals there.
An aerial view of the Sri Dharmasastha temple in Sasthamkotta, showing the island and the adjacent lake
Thus, this place which was formerly known as ‘Kotta’ began to be known as ‘Saasthamkotta’,
due to the divine presence of Dharma Sastha, the Lord of Sabarimala.
If any of you have visited this temple or have heard more stories about this temple and its Lord,
please leave a comment in the comments section.
In my next blog, I shall narrate the significance of the statue that the Pandalam King found in the
Island, its connection with Ramayana and the origin of the Monkeys of Sasthamkotta.
Written By:
Vijay Nair (Chenda Student, Kalavadhyam Academy, Sarjapur Branch)