Chapter 4: Lord Ayyappan, a great warrior
Once Pandalam raja had a journey through the jungle he found his sister and and the former commander of the palace and their son at the jungle. Raja(king) demanded to send his nephew with him and he offered throne for him (Read article part2 for more details about birth of Lord Ayyappan)finally they sent ayyappa with his uncle.During a life at Pandalam Kingdom he killed Mahishi at ‘Erumali’ the place which is known as the place where Buffalo is killed “Erume Kolli” . In Indian epics ‘Mahishi’ was Mahishasuras sister but according to Mr.Dilish Pillai a belongs to the Pandalam royal family wrote in his blog that Mahishi might be a Hill tribe who had his totem as buffalo.
Years passed, the wild plunderer Udayanan’s threat over Pandalam kingdom and Sabari hill temple (Shastha temple of Avalokteswars Bodhisathvam now known as Ayyappa temple read part3) Ayyappa decided to fight againist Udayanan and conquer him and to destroy his troupe and to rebuild Shastha temple.So he decided to create a strong and powerful army to defeat Udayanan. But it wasn’t a powerful army he had at that time, thus he decided to seek help from his father’s family belongs to ‘Alangad Kingdom’, he went to his fathers people for help( (Read article part2 for more details about birth of Lord Ayyappan). The Alangad and Ampalapuzha yogam decided to accompany ayyappa in the battle against Udayanan.
But the Army force didn’t satisfied his plan to attack Udayanan’s gang ,so he approached Kayamkulam King to get support from the King.At that time Kayamkulam was a main center of merchants from different part of the world including Arab, China and even from North India at the same time Kayamkulam was also in a threat by a pirate named ‘VAVAR’. As per the Kings order Karnavar of Mullasseril family appointed to assist Ayyappa in the Battle against Udayanan and to conquer Vavar. Thus the defeated Vavar and converted his mind and made him a disciple. Later he was worshiped as VavarSwami. The mosque and Vavar temple at Erumali is worship this ancient warrior, Why the author of this article called Vavar as warrior, because the main offerings in the Vavar Mosque and temple are green pepper and rose water and another thing is the mosque doesn’t have any idols and a sword is kept near a wall in the mosque these traditions and give us clear picture of Vavar.
Kaduthaswami from Chenganoor
Kadutha was a Nair youth warrior from chenganoor who was the General of Pandalam Raja at that time, he was a great warrior of mountain warfare. His role in the battle against Udayanan was well known,Kuchu Kadutha Nair who was a well known sword fighter and Villan and Malla were the three other ‘Padanairs’ who assisted Ayyappa in this mission with kadutha. Later Kadutha Known as Kaduthaswami and his main offerings was Ganja and tobacco but this practice discontinued now.
Cheerapanchira Mooppan Malikappurathamma and Communist Leader
At that time when the Army was creating, Ayyappa went to Cheerapanchira Mooppans Kalari(School for traditional martial arts). Cheerappanchira Mooppan belonged to an ancient ezhava family ,the communist Leaders named ”C.K.Kumarappanikkar”, C.K Chandrappan, “Susheela Gopalan”,and “Vayalar Stalin” belongs to this family.While Ayyappany’s stay with Moppan’s Kalari, his daughter fell in love with Ayyappan and she expressed his love to Ayyappa ,but he refused his proposal and he said he is a “Brahmachari” and his only aim is to Kill Udayanan and destroy other plunderers from the Sabari hills and its surroundings.This girl was later known as Malikappurathamma.
Story of Vrithm and Petta Thullal
Thus the Ayyappa’s Army was ready for an attack, Ayyappa asked his Army men to go for vritham(fasting) for 56 days and to pray Kiratha Shasta at Erumali for the victory of battle, After all these arrangements and hard work, they decided to attack the plunderer. All his army men assembled near Erumeli, Ayyappan said them to dress up like tribes to make the opponents confused and in this memmory Petta thullal is conducting now a days. Before the attack Ayyappa made three groups of warriors , first one was under the leadership of Alangad Yogam, second one was under Ampalappuzha Yogam and the third was under the leadership of Villan and Mallan.They attacked Udayanan from three directions, his strategy made a mouse trape against Udayanan very soon they attacked each other, Ayyappas army was strong enough to defeat Udayanans troupe,after a long fight Kuchu Kadutha Nair killed Udayanan at Karimala Kotta, mission ended successful.
At that moment he stepped in to the hills and sat their for meditation . he was in silence till the idol was reinstalled. The first day of Malayalam Month ‘Makaram’ the idol was re installed.
continue reading introduction part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4
Note:This article series is on the basis of collected information from various historical books such as “Elavarsevampettu”, Kesari Balakrishnan Pillai’s”followers”, Nalankal Krishnapillai and Dr.S.K Nairs Book
Facebook
RSS