Ayyappa

Dharma Shasta · Manikanta · Hariharaputra

Son of Shiva and Vishnu as Mohini, the celibate god of Sabarimala.

Abode: Sabarimala, Kerala
Consort: None (a celibate)
Vahana: Tiger (in the legend of the tigress's milk)
Colour: Dark
Arms: 2

Ayyappa, born of Shiva and Vishnu in his female form Mohini, was found as an infant by the king of Pandalam and raised as a prince. He is a yogi and a brahmachari, worshipped at Sabarimala in Kerala, where millions of pilgrims keep a forty-one day vow of simplicity before climbing the eighteen sacred steps.

Mantra

स्वामिये शरणम् अय्यप्पा

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa

Lord Ayyappa, you are my refuge: the pilgrims' cry on the way to Sabarimala.

रूप और प्रतीक

How Ayyappa is shown

A youthful yogi seated in a squatting yoga posture with a band (yogapatta) around his knees, one hand in the chin mudra.

Yogapatta (band around the knees): Steady, unbroken meditation.
Chin mudra: The individual self joined to the supreme.
Bell on a chain (mani): The name Manikanta, 'with a bell at his neck'.

कथाएँ

Stories

The tigress's milk

Sent into the forest to fetch tigress's milk for the queen's feigned illness, the boy Manikanta returned riding a tigress, with the gods as tigers behind him. The king understood who his son really was.

Related forms

शिव
Shiva
विष्णु
Vishnu