Ayyappan, also called Dharmasastha and Manikandan, is a Hindu deity popular in Southern India. He is considered to be the epitome of dharma, truth, and righteousness and is often called upon to obliterate evil.
The Sabarimala Sree Ayyappan Temple is a Hindu temple complex located on the Sabarimala hill inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Ranni-Perunad Village, Ranni Taluk, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. It is one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world, with an estimate of over 10 to 15 million devotees visiting every year. The temple is dedicated to a Hindu Brahmachari (celibate) deity named Ayyappan also known as Dharma Shasta, who, according to one belief, is the son of Shiva and Vishnu. Sabarimala Temple exemplifies the convergence of diverse religions in India.
Makara Jyothi is a star worshiped by pilgrims at Sabarimala Temple in Kerala on Makara Sankranti every year. It is believed that the deity Ayyappan asserts himself as Makara Jyothi to bless his devotees.
Ayyanar is a Tamil deity venerated in South India and Sri Lanka. His worship is prevalent among the Dravidian peoples. Some studies suggest that Ayyanar may have also been worshipped in Southeast Asian countries in the past. He is primarily worshipped as one of the guardian folk deities of Tamil Nadu. The temples of Ayyanar in the countryside are usually flanked by gigantic and colourful statues of him and his companions riding horses or elephants.
Cheerappanchira Panicker is a noble Ezhava family renowned for its Kalari in Muhamma, Alappuzha District. Recently, the family Kalari was reopened and around 40 students are being trained in the martial art of Kalarippayattu. The former minister of Kerala, Susheela Gopalan, hails from the Cheerappanchira family.
Maalikapurathamma is a goddess enshrined in a small temple at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple. Maalikapurathamma Temple is visited after darshan of Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple. Malikapurathamma Temple is in front of Manimandapam. The Pandalam royal family and their associates worship Malikapurathamma as a mother. Usually, everyone in the Pandalam royal family who visits Sabarimala stays in Malika behind Manimandapam. Long before this deity was placed on Malika for this deity was called Malikapurathamma. Usually in Kerala, the deity named as abode Ayyappan Swami grew up in Pandlam Palace at the age of 12. Ayyappan Swami worships Malikapurathamma as the goddess of pandalam family. Maalikapurathamma is this concept of the family of the goddess Madurai Meenakshi, the goddess of the Pandalam royal family.
Harivarasanam is a Malayalam devotional ashtakam dedicated to the Hindu God Ayyappan at the Sabarimala Temple, in Kerala, India. The song is sung as a lullaby to the deity at the temple as a ritual of putting the deity to sleep. The song became popular through the first stanza in the Kīrtanam known as "Hariharatmajashtakam" (ഹരിഹരാത്മജാഷ്ട്ടകം)
The 2008 Naina Devi temple stampede occurred on 3 August 2008 in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. 146 people died and 150 were injured when they were crushed, trampled, or forced over the side of a ravine by the movement of a large panicking crowd. Witness accounts suggest that events were initiated after a rain shelter collapsed, which worshipers mistakenly took to be a landslide. There were as many as 3000 devotees at the temple because it was a sacred place in the holy month of Shraavana of the Hindu Calendar. According to Daljit Singh Manhas, a senior police officer from the area, at least 40 of the victims were children.
A human stampede occurred on 30 September 2008, at the Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, in which 224 people were killed and more than 425 injured. The 15th-century temple is dedicated to the goddess Chamunda Devi and is located within the premises of Mehrangarh Fort.
Sabarimala stampede is a human crowd crush that occurred at Sabarimala temple in the Indian state of Kerala in 1999. On 14 January 1999,, 53 people, the majority of them from outside Kerala, died in the crowd crush at the Pamba base camp caused by, among other things, the collapse of the sides of a hillock.
Thiruvabharanam is the sacred ornaments of Ayyappan, the presiding deity of Sabarimala temple. The ornaments are made of gold. It is believed that these ornaments are made at the orders of the Pandalam King, who adopted Ayyappan as his child. Thiruvabharanam is kept at Srambickal Palace, which is close to the Valiyakoikkal Temple, inside the Pandalam Palace premises. At the end of the pilgrim season every year, the ornaments are taken to Sabarimala as a procession and poojas are performed on the idol adorned with the ornaments. After the season, the ornaments are taken back to the Srambickal Palace for safe custody. Thiruvabharanam and the caskets are made available for darshan at Srambickal palace during the pilgrim season and at Valiyakoikkal Temple on the day of the procession.
Mahamaham Stampede was a disaster that occurred during the Mahamaham festival on 18 February 1992 around the Mahamaham tank located in the town of Kumbakonam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. An estimated 50 people were killed in the stampede that left another 74 injured. The festival was attended by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha, who had a holy dip in the tank.
Ponnambalamedu is a summit in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Pathanamthitta District, Perunad grama panchayat, Kerala, India. It is located near the Sabarimala Ayyappan temple, where the annual Makaravilakku event is conducted in the presence of nearly half a million pilgrims annually.
The 2005 December Chennai stampede incident happened on 18 December 2005 in a school at MGR Nagar in Chennai, the capital of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where the relief supplies were distributed by the state government for the people affected by severe flooding. There were 42 deaths in the accident, which left another 37 injured. The state government appointed a one-man commission under retired justice A. Raman to look into the enquiry. The state government also announced a compensation of ₹100,000 for all the victims and ₹15,000 for the injured.
The 2005 November Chennai stampede incident happened on 6 November 2005 in a school in Vyasarpadi on the outskirts of Chennai where relief supplies were distributed by the state government for people affected by severe flooding. There were 6 deaths in the accident, which left another 12 injured. The state government announced a compensation of ₹one lakh for all the victims and ₹15,000 for the injured.
Rajah Annamalaipuram Ayyappan Koil is a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Ayyappa in Chennai, India. It is located at Raja Annamalaipuram, a coastal neighbourhood of Chennai.
On 10 April 2016 at approximately 03:30 AM IST, the Puttingal Temple in Paravur, Kollam, Kerala, India, experienced an explosion and fire after firework celebrations went awry. As a result, 111 people were killed and more than 350 were injured, including some with severe burns. The temple and at least 150 houses in the area of the temple were damaged by the blast. According to local reports and eyewitnesses, the explosion and fire were caused by sparks from a firecracker being used in a competitive fireworks display igniting fireworks in a concrete storehouse. The temple did not have permission from Kerala government authorities to conduct a "competitive fireworks display". About 15,000 pilgrims were visiting the temple to mark local Hindu celebrations during the last day of a seven-day festival of the goddess Bhadrakali.
Sabarimala is a temple dedicated to Shasta in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala, India. Women and girls of reproductive age were traditionally not permitted to worship there, as Shasta is a celibate deity. A Kerala high court provided a legal justification for this tradition, and from 1991 on, women and girls were legally forbidden to enter the temple.
Sabarimala Ayyappa Seva Samajam (SASS) is an organization of Ayyappan devotees and an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar. It is a registered public charitable trust started on 13 November 2008 with headquarters at Pathanamthitta in Kerala. SASS aims to serve Ayyappa devotees in their pilgrimage to Sabarimala and inculcate dharmic values in them and their families and bring them together to further the larger aim of Hindu unity. SASS activities can be listed in 5S: Satsang, Swaadhyay, Seva, Samarasta and Sangharsh.
Mahalingapuram Ayyappan Temple or Mahalingapuram Ayyappan - Guruvayurappan Temples is an Ayyappan Temple located at Mahalingapuram in the neighbourhood of Nungambakkam in Chennai district in the state of Tamil Nadu in the peninsular India with the geographical coordinates of 13°03′23.0″N80°13′54.5″E and at an altitude of about 34 m above the mean sea level. This temple complex contains Ayyappan temple and Guruvayurappan temple adjacent to each other. And is built based on Kerala Architecture. Swamy Ayyappan appears to devotees as in a sitting posture on Srichakra with the symbol of chinmuthra, the height being about 2 ft. The temple is constructed in the year 1974.
