Chennai: Yesteryear popular actor and ‘villain’ of Tamil films late M. N. Nambiar was instrumental in starting the guru-sishya cult of Ayyappa bhakti movement in Chennai and had encouraged group pilgrimages under the guidance of guru. It had always been the ‘gurusamy’ who guided his devotees. Now, following the verdict, will there be a rise of women gurus, remains to be seen.
Till this day, very young girls and also women who have crossed 50 years have been undertaking pilgrimage with the ‘Irumudi kattu’ (holy bag containing puja items and also personal belongings of the Ayyappa devotee) that is prepared with the help of the gurusamy before commencing the pilgrimage under his guidance. Though many would be glad to become guru, reaching this exalted position is not so easy. One has to visit Sabarimala for 18 years continuously, ascend the steps in the attire prescribed, and the end of it perform a puja and plant a coconut sapling at Basmakulam.
“We have to read the full verdict. It is not clear, as of now, as to whether women of all age groups would be allowed to climb the steps with the Irumudi kattu,” opines N. Subramanian of Jan Kalyan. “Opening the Lord Ayyappa temple for all women may convert the shrine into a tourist spot and this might lead to losing the sanctity of the place. Throughout my 23 annual trips to Sabarimala, I have guided several girls and women to have a darshan of Lord Ayyappa but feel that there are many things in the Hindu religion that ought to be left to the elders or the ancient tradition to decide,” he adds.
“Allowing women to visit the temple and worship the Lord is good. There is nothing like it,” Mrs P. Jayalakshmi, who has trekked to Sabarimala, through the arduous route despite her age, says. The 74-year-old had visited Sabarimala under the guidance of her guru for 13 years but couldn’t take up the pilgrimage since the last two years. Asked about the Supreme Court ending a ban preventing women and girls between 10 and 50 years from entering the shrine, she replied: “this is not wise.” “One worships the Lord out of sheer devotion towards Him,” she adds.
Hitherto, devotional trips to Sabarimala has been only under the guidance of the gurusamy. M. N. Nambiar (March 7, 1919 - Nov. 19, 2008), who dominated the Tamil film industry in his ‘glorified’ role as villain for about 50 years, was a spiritual leader who pioneered the movement of taking pilgrims to Sabarimala. This charming villain on the silver screen was a pure vegetarian and an ardent devotee of Ayyappa. He had visited the shrine for more than 65 times over the last half a century; and this has earned him the status of Maha Guruswamy.
