The great pilgrimage of Sabarimala has a human beginning — in a palace at Pandalam, in Pathanamthitta. For all the forest and the eighteen holy steps, the legend of Lord Ayyappa starts with a childless king, a baby by a river, and a father who had to let his son go.
The child by the Pamba
By tradition, Raja Rajasekhara of the Pandalam royal house was hunting near the banks of the Pamba when he heard a baby crying. He found a radiant infant with a small bead (mani) on a cord around its neck. The childless king, counselled by the sage Agastya, took the boy home and named him Manikanta — “the one with the bead at the throat”. Manikanta grew up a prince in the Pandalam palace, and it was here that his divine nature slowly revealed itself.
The prince who became the deity
The story tells how Manikanta was sent to fetch tiger’s milk and returned riding a tigress, and how his true mission was the slaying of the demoness Mahishi. When it was done, he told his foster father that he would leave the palace — asking the raja to build a shrine for him at Sabarimala, where he would sit in eternal penance and bless all who came. Then he vanished. The king’s grief and devotion became the temple, and the bond between Pandalam and Sabarimala has never been broken.
The Thiruvabharanam procession
That bond is renewed every year. The Thiruvabharanam — the sacred golden ornaments of Ayyappa — are kept at the Pandalam palace, and each Makaravilakku a member of the royal family carries them on foot to Sabarimala, a roughly 90-km, three-day trek through the forest, in a palanquin. Tradition holds that a brahminy kite circles overhead the whole way, and it is when these ornaments adorn the idol at dusk that the Makaravilakku is celebrated. The foster father, in effect, still sends his son his royal robes.
- Pandalam is about 14 km from Pathanamthitta town; the palace precincts and the Valiyakoyikkal temple are open to respectful visitors.
- The Thiruvabharanam procession leaves for Sabarimala three days before Makaravilakku (around mid-January) — a moving thing to witness.
- Dress modestly; this is an active devotional place, not just a heritage site.
Frequently asked questions
What is the connection between Pandalam and Sabarimala?
By legend the Pandalam king Rajasekhara found and raised the infant Ayyappa (Manikanta), who later asked him to build the Sabarimala shrine. The Pandalam royal house keeps Ayyappa’s sacred ornaments (Thiruvabharanam) and carries them to Sabarimala each year.
What is the Thiruvabharanam procession?
It is the annual journey of Ayyappa’s golden ornaments from the Pandalam palace to Sabarimala — a roughly 90-km, three-day trek on foot through the forest, arriving for the Makaravilakku, when the ornaments adorn the idol.
Who was Manikanta?
Manikanta is the name the Pandalam king gave the foundling he raised — “the one with a bead at the throat”. In the legend he is Lord Ayyappa, who after slaying the demoness Mahishi asked for the Sabarimala shrine to be built and then vanished.