Every year, as Karthika arrives, a change comes over towns and villages across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Men – and some boys and older women – appear in black or blue clothes, barefoot, with a bead mala around the neck and sandal paste on the forehead. Neighbours, shopkeepers and even strangers greet them as "Swamy". For forty-one days they live as renunciants within their own homes, and then set out for the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala in Kerala, carrying a small two-part bundle on the head. This is the Ayyappa Mandala deeksha, and today it is one of the largest devotional disciplines in the Telugu lands.
This guide explains the deeksha as it is commonly kept: its meaning, how it begins, the daily discipline, the role of the Guru Swamy and the irumudi, and how it ends. For the temple itself – the shrine, the season, booking and the routes to the hill – please see our page on the Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple.
The Sabarimala pilgrimage is unusual: the journey is only the last part of it. Before setting out, the devotee keeps a Mandala vratam of forty-one days, living with the restraint of an ascetic. Lord Ayyappa is worshipped at Sabarimala as a naishtika brahmachari, an eternal celibate seated in yoga, and the deeksha asks his devotees to share something of that discipline before they come before him.
The main pilgrimage season begins on the first day of the Malayalam month of Vrischikam, which falls during Karthika Masam in the Telugu calendar, and many Telugu devotees take the mala in Karthika. The season continues through the Mandala Pooja and the Makaravilakku festival at Makara Sankranti. Exact opening days are announced each year by the Travancore Devaswom Board.
The deeksha begins with mala dharana, wearing the sacred mala of tulasi or rudraksha beads, usually with a locket of Lord Ayyappa. The mala is received from a Guru Swamy – traditionally a senior devotee who has made the pilgrimage many times, often counted as eighteen – or from a temple priest, after prayer at an Ayyappa shrine or at home. From that moment the devotee is himself addressed as "Swamy", and he addresses every other devotee in the same way. Pilgrims undertaking their first journey are called Kanne Swamulu (Kanni Swamis), and their Guru Swamy guides them with special care.
The rules are simple to state and demanding to keep. As they are commonly followed:
Guru Swamys and family traditions vary in the details, and devotees are guided by their own Guru Swamy. The aim is not hardship for its own sake, but a mind turned steadily towards the Lord.
One of the joys of the deeksha in the Telugu lands is its community. Devotees gather in the evenings at Ayyappa temples, in neighbourhood halls and in each other's homes for bhajans. Many households host a padi puja – worship of a decorated model of the eighteen sacred steps with lamps, flowers and songs – often followed by a shared meal. Families of all backgrounds welcome the Swamys for food, and the custom of offering a meal to Ayyappa devotees is regarded as an act of merit in its own right.
Before leaving for Sabarimala, each devotee's irumudi is prepared in a ceremony led by the Guru Swamy, called irumudi kattu (Kettunira in Kerala). The irumudi is a two-part cloth bundle carried on the head:
The ghee-filled coconut is often explained as the devotee's own self, emptied of worldly attachment and filled with devotion. Only pilgrims who carry the irumudi may climb the Pathinettam Padi, the sacred eighteen steps that lead to the Lord's shrine. Details of the season, the Virtual-Q booking system, the routes from Pamba and Erumeli, and current entry guidelines are on our Sabarimala page.
After the pilgrimage, the devotee returns home and the deeksha is concluded, usually by removing the mala with the guidance of the Guru Swamy, at home or at a temple, after prayer to the Lord. Customs for the exact moment and manner of removing the mala vary; follow your Guru Swamy. Many devotees describe the days that follow as the real test – keeping something of the deeksha's calm and kindness once the black clothes are put away.
The deeksha asks a great deal of the body. Walking barefoot, changes of diet and the long climb to the shrine can be hard on elders and on anyone with diabetes, heart trouble or other health conditions. Please consult your doctor before taking the mala, take care of your feet, and walk at your own pace on the hill. Within the household, the deeksha is best kept with the understanding and support of the whole family, whose daily routine also changes for those forty-one days.
For forty-one days, an office worker, a farmer, a student and a shopkeeper become simply "Swamy" to one another, wearing the same black cloth and chanting the same name. That may be the deeksha's quietest gift. Long before the pilgrim climbs the eighteen steps, he has learned to see the Lord in the people around him. For more on the month in which so many Telugu devotees take the mala, see our guide to the Karthika Somavaram vratam.