It is said that it was a Budhist temple.Every year people crowd towards this temple which is on a hill. The puja is conducted by kerala brahmins.The thanthri has to decide the way puja is coducted and also decide the people who can enter the temple. From very olden times ladies between the ages 10 and fifty are not allowed inside the temple.it is presumed that some incident might have happened long back and this resulted in this decision of the Thanthri and is now followed by every one .
One has to be on on a vratha for 41 days during which he has to avoid all luxuries of life like drinking and love of sex.He has to wear either black or safron clothes.Smoking also is to be avoided.He has to do just those things which are necessary to keep his body live.He has to take bath in the morning and visit the nearest temple.Virtually he becomes a sanyasin during those days not getting angry on any body.He has to think of Ayyappa only all the time and he is also supposed to shout "swamiye saranam" frequently So that he gets his mind concentrated on GOD.It is a very rigorous journey to the top of the hill.
IN Bharat we consider every hill as the abode of some god and give due respect to the sites.as example we consider Kailas as the abord of Siva,Thirupathi as the abode of Balaji(Krishna),Palni as abode of Subrahmanya etc etc
In Kerala as elswhere different religions like Jainism,Budhism etc influenced the
culture of the area.
The poojas carried out were similar to that of Jains who do not sacrifice any living
being at the alter of God and at the same time the poojas are of Thanthric type. The
shouting of Saranam like Budhists (Budham Saranam Gajhami)-(Sangham Saranam
Gajhami),(Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa) is the prayer of devotees of Ayyappa..From
the first day of Vratha (Penance)the devotee should not wear any Padaraksha (like a
jain Muni) and should repeat "swamiye Saranam Ayyappa" as frequently as possible to
help him concentrate his mind.(mind not to waver from the path of righteousness).
The devotee has to be a vegetarian like a true Jain and has to visit all temples on the
way walking on his bare feet like a jainmuni.He is supposed to tread the path
barefooted through the forest, treading on sharp stones and thorns, on his way to
Sabarimala.
Can we say that there was a fusion of the three religious cultures in Kerala? There
is no discrimination of castes and religions at Sabarimala. Even 100 years back,
Namboodris and all casts used to visit the shrine. The poojas however were
conducted for a long time by Namboodris(cast among whom a number of people had
training in Thanthra Vidya) atleast after the temple came under the Panthalam Raja.
We Indians consider Aum as the combination of "sristy,sthithy&samhara" and the
Gods who control them are Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.The ordinary folk however do not
understand the significance underlying in this and so they pray to their
attributes.Brahma not only creates but also educates.Brahma's consort Saraswathy is
considered to be the Godess of knowledge.Similarly Vishnu's wife Laxmi is the
Godess of wealth who gives comfortable life to people and Siva's wife Durga is the
Godess of war.
In schools and colleges Saraswathy is the Godess to be Worshipped.Traders
,businessmen, and agriculturists pray to Laxmi . For our Jawans the Godess is Durga.
The people have also other Deities like Ganapathy (wisdom),Subrahmanya
(valour),Ayyappa (military genious),Bhadrakali,Manasaputhri of Siva(War).
About 1000 years after the Mahabharatha war(may be 1000bc) our systems detiorated
and bad habits like offerings of animals to Gods Etc started spreading in our
country.Natuarally some new religions,like Jainism and Budhism, by great thinkers,
started taking roots in the country and spread fast.Then in about 500bc Adi
Sankaracharya took birth and started giving correct interpretations of Veda
,Upanishads etc and this gave a new life to Vedic thoughts.This revitalisation work was
continued by two other Sankaracharyas in the 8th century AD.
