Sasthamcotta Sree Dharma Sastha Temple- Kerala

Address

Sasthamcotta Sree Dharma Sastha Temple- Sasthamcotta, Kollam District, Kerala- 690 521.

Diety

Ayyappa Amman: Prabha

Introduction

Shri Dharma Sastha temple is located at the village Sasthamkotta, Kerala, India. It is surrounded three sides by the largest fresh water lake of Kerala, Sasthamkotta Lake. The temple here is well known for the inhabitance of monkeys. The temple monkeys are believed to be the divine retinue of the prime deity. The Sasthamcotta temple is one among the five ancient Sastha temples in Kerala – AchanKoil, Aryankavu, Kulathupuzha, Sasthamcotta and Sabarimala. The concept of Dharma Sastha represents the unison of Vaishnava and Saiva beliefs. The presiding deity of the temple is Shri Dharma Sastha, accompanied by his consort ‘Prabha’ and son ‘Sathyaka’

Puranic Significance

The legend of this temple stretches beyond the period of the Ramayana (Treta Yuga). It is believed that Shri Rama along with his wife Sita, brother Lakshmana and the whole vaanara sena, on their way back to Ayodhya after the victory over Ravana, visited Sasthamcotta to pay their reverence to Shri Dharma Sastha. Shri Rama offered pithru tharpan on the banks of the Sasthamcotta Lake, the water of which is supposed to be identical to Surya Raga Theertha of Manasa Sarovar. Lord Rama then deputed the chief architect of his vanara (monkey) team, Neelan to serve his host. Neelan is believed to be the predecessor of the prevailing monkey clan in this temple. As indicated by another legend, Once a sovereign of Pandalam wedded a princess from the regal group of Kayamkulam and settled there. The sovereign, who used to consistently supplicate at the Sabarimala place of worship, thought that it was hard to proceed with his standard month to month visits. This disappointed Lord Ayyappa and the indications of the Lord’s dismay began appearing inside the regal family. The ruler apologized for the oversight, set out for Sabarimala and adored there for a time of twelve days. The stresses over dealing with the Sabarimala darshan, aggravated him from the start. On the night of the twelfth day of veneration, Lord Ayyappa showed up before him in his fantasy and recommended that he better keep on staying at Kayamkulam itself, and as opposed to going to Sabarimala, continue to Sasthamcotta and revere Sri Dharma Sastha where a similar perfect nearness of Sabarimala existed. The Lord additionally said that ‘an adolescent who goes to the prospective celebration at Kayamkulam royal residence will find the place’. As said in the fantasy, a youth who took part in the archery rivalry of the celebration shot an arrow. A group, including the Prince and the youth, began towards the eastern bearing, looking for the bolt to proclaim the victor. At last they achieved the bank of a lovely lake. There was a little island in the lake and the arrow of the shotter was found there. Shockingly, there was a little stage on which a swayambhu symbol was being venerated by a monkey family! Around then the young fellow vanished. The Kayamkulam lord then redesigned and constructed the temple in its present shape.

Special Features

The managing god of the temple is Sri Dharma Sastha, joined by his associate “Prabha” and child ‘Sathyaka’. The Dharmasastha (divinity) here is said to have an indistinguishable forces from that of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala and the place gets the name from the deity, the previous name being Kota. Ganapathy, Shiva, Yakshiyamma, Nagaraja are the minor gods. The Sasthamcotta temple is one among the five old Sastha temples in Kerala – AchanKoil, Aryankavu, Kulathupuzha, Sasthamcotta and Sabarimala. The temple was worked by a Prince of Pandalam Royal family. The temple here is outstanding for loads of monkeys. The temple monkeys are accepted to be the awesome entourage of the prime divinity. The temple is under the regulatory control of Travancore Devaswom Board.

Festivals

Utsavam (Annual festival) The utsavam lasts for ten days. The flag is hoisted on the first day heralding the utsavam. The utsavam culminates with the ‘araattu’ on ‘Utram’ in the month of Kumbham (February-March). The tenth day hosts the ‘Kettukazhcha’, a procession of various effigies of bullocks, horses, decorated chariots, etc. A number of elephants with their netthipattam (decorative head-dress) also come to the temple to pay reverence to the prime deity, who sits atop a caparisoned elephant at the temple courtyard, escorted with many other decorated elephants. Shiva Prathishta Vaarshikom The holy function of the installation of the idol of Lord Shiva (Shiva Prathishta) in the newly built shrine was conducted on Atham in the Malayalam month of Edavam (May-June). Hence this day is celebrated every year as Shiva Prathishta Vaarshikom. Other Festivals Thiruvonam, Navaratri, Mandala Mahotsav (41 days), Makara Sankrama pooja, Sivaratri, Painkuni Utram, Pathamudayam, Karkidaka Vavu are the other major festival celebrated in this temple.