Story of the Ayyappan idol in Sabarimala from 1900.
First of all the Sabarimala Ayyappan or rather to be more precise and correct the Dharmasastha idol that was destroyed by vandals and not fire as it was wrongly given publicity then,was not the one consecrated by Rishi Parasurama.
This idol was crafted by Sri Velappan Achari of Parvathy Jewellers and was installed before 1903.In 1903 an accidental fire on account of bhaktas buring camphor on the holy eighteen steps on a Makaravilakku Deeparadhana day (the reverred steps that lead to the sanctum).The fire which blazed on the thrippadi accidentally leapt to the roof of the sreekovil resulting in the thatched covering on top of the roof of the sreekovil going up in flames. The Thiruvabharanam was just taken in when this ghastly incident happened and the then melshanti Brahmashree Raman Vasudevan Embrandiri sent out the unopened Thiruvabharanam box quickly so that it was not damaged.By the time the box was sent out,the flames became unmanageable and the melshanti in a fit of devotional trance pulled out the vigraham of Ayyappan single handedly and carrying it all alone ran away.
With people running helter-skelter and Sannidhanam in utter chaos and commotion,nobody knew where the melshanti had gone.The next morning all what the bhaktas who had bothered to stay saw was a fully charred sreekovil in which the Ayyappa vigraham was missing. Many thought that the vigraham had perished in the fire along with the melshanti. Later that day when somebody went to the old Bhasmakulam, he saw something protruding in a corner Gathering the remaining bhaktas,that person tried to find what it was.To their amazement it was the holy idol of Ayyan Ayyappan which they had earlier thought to have been destroyed by the fire. Amazingly the Melshanti was seen clinging to the idol barely alive.Ayyappan had saved the melshanti 's life and the idol was undamaged.
Later the temple was rebuilt by the christian contractor of Mavelikara POLACHIRAKKAL KOCHUMMEN MUTHALALI. The work was fully finished only in 1909.Till then Ayyappaswamy 's idol was temporarily installed in the 'balalayam' at Kannimoola in the Thirumuttam or the reverred temple compound.
Today Kannimoola Ganapathy 's shrine stands in the place where the 'balalayam' stood for nearly 6 yrs.The punapratishta was done in 1909 by Kantararu Prabhakararu of Thazhamon Madom.The idol at Sabarimala was changed many, many times.The original idol consecrated by Rishi Parasurama is forever gone into some distant memory.
Only the idol of Achenkovil Arasan has stood the test of time.The pre 1950 idol which when damaged was recast and made into a bell by the tantric samrat Kantararu Sankararu of Thazhamon Madom.
The present idol was crafted by thatan vilai family. Three idol were moulded and one in Haridwar other one in Dhil bhandeswar temple in Kasi.
The present idol was alround Tamilnadu and kerala before installation.
In stop gap arrangement in 1950 the alangadu samooga kolagam was taken inside and kept in front the old damaged idol and pooja was only to kolagam.
The present idol was kept tied in cloth and kept infront Kannimoola Ganapathi.
In 1951 thanthri Sankararu installed the idol.
©Lord Ayyappa group.
