Sasthamcotta Sree Dharma Sastha Temple.
Sree Dharmasastha Temple is located
at Sasthamcotta in Kollam District 11 kms west of Adoor, 10 kms from
Karunagappally. The temple is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa and the surroundings of
the temple are covered by hills and forests. There are many monkeys inhabiting
the premises, which are considered holy. It is beleived that Lord Hanuman at
the time flying to Lanka in search of Goddess Sita, halted at this place also,
and since then this Temple is a home for Monkeys. The monkeys are
devotee-friendly, and the thousands of devotees visiting the temple take
pleasure in feeding these monkeys with nuts and fruits.
Ayyappan is an avatar or incarnation
of Sastha. There are references to Sastha in many of the puranas. The story of
Ayyappa is comparatively recent, stretching back to the establishment of the
Pandya Raja Vamsa at Pandalam, into which Sri Ayyappa was adopted. Lord Ayyappa
was united into the idol of Sree Darma Sastha in the sanctum sanctorum of
Sabarimala, after completing the mission of the avatar.
Once a prince of Pandalam married a princess from the royal family of Kayamkulam and settled there. The prince, who used to regularly pray at the Sabarimala shrine, found it difficult to continue his routine monthly visits. This displeased Lord Ayyappa and the signs of the Lord’s displeasure started showing within the royal family. The prince repented for the mistake, set out for Sabarimala and worshipped there for a period of twelve days. The worries about managing the Sabarimala darshan, disturbed him all along. On the night of the 12th day of worship, Lord Ayyappa appeared before him in his dream and suggested that he better continue to stay at Kayamkulam itself, and instead of visiting Sabarimala, proceed to Sasthamcotta and worship Sri Dharma Sastha where the same divine presence of Sabarimala existed.
The Lord also said that ‘a youngster who comes to the forthcoming festival at Kayamkulam palace will help to locate the place’. As said in the dream, a youngster who participated in the archery competition of the festival shot an arrow. A team, including the Prince and the youngster, started towards the eastern direction, in search of the arrow to declare the winner. Finally they reached the bank of a beautiful lake. There was a small island in the lake and the arrow of the youngster was found there. Surprisingly, there was a small platform on which a swayambhu idol was being worshipped by a monkey clan! At that time the young man disappeared. The Kayamkulam king then renovated and built the temple in its present form.
The Dharmasastha (deity) here is said to have the same powers as that of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala and the place derives the name from the diety, the former name being Kota. The temple was built by a Prince of Pandalam Royal family. One of the fascinating features of this temple is the abundance of monkeys that camp around. A few years ago, the monkeys began to face shortage of food and they began to snatch food from visitors to the temple and children going to nearby schools and colleges. Based on the orders of the Court ,the Devaswom (temple) Board made arrangements to feed the monkeys of the temple adequately. Sasthamcotta Neelakandan is the elephant at Sasthamcotta temple. Neelakandan is the vital part of Sasthamcotta temple. He carries the deity of the Lord Dharmasastha during annual festival processions and ceremonial circumambulations in the temple. The utsavam culminates with the ‘araattu’ on ‘Utram’ in the month of Kumbham (February–March).
**Om Namah
Shivay**
