Gurunathanmukadi Sri Ayyappaguru Temple

Gurunathanmukadi Sri Ayyappaguru Temple

Gurunathanmukadi Sri Ayyappaguru temple is situated on a hill in a beautiful landscape, near the banks of Achankovil River, on the opposite side of Pandalam Sri Valiyakoickal Dharma Sastha temple close to Chengannur in the state of Kerala.

The legend of Ayyappaguru temple is intertwined with Pandalam kingdom . The legend says when Sri Manikandan (young Ayyappa) was brought up at Pandalam palace, he learned ‘vidya’ from the guru called Sri Gurunathan who was an incarnations of Shivachaithanya and was a Mahayogi. Sri Gurunathan reached Pandalam as guided by Lord Shiva in a dream.

With patronage and blessings of Sri Rajasekharan, then king of Pandalam, Sri Gurunathan established a gurukulam (school) on a hill and he became Gurukula Guru. He taught Manikandan various shasstras. Manikandan became an expert in combat art also. Gurunathan became very much pleased in the learning capability of Manikandan and rewarded him with his golden ‘Churika’ . Sri Manikandan cured the inborn deafness and dumbness of the son of Gurunathan as gurudakshina.Thus, Sri Ayyappa revealed his divinity to the world. Sri Gurunathan spent the rest of his life in the gurukulam hills and later entered into ‘holy samadhi’. This holy hill is now known as “Gurunathanmukadi”.

Indeed, the hill has become a holy place due to the blessings of Sri Ayyappaguru and also due to the holy foot contact of Sri Ayyappa. In these holy hills there is a temple complex where idols of Sri Ayyappaguru, Sri Ayyappa, Lord Shiva , Lord Vishnu, Sri Bhadra, Lord Ganapati, Sri Nagaraja & Nagayakshi are being worshipped according to religious rites.

There are daily poojas, special offerings and yearly festivals. There is chirappu festival beginning from vrichikam 1st to Makaravilakku. This festival ends with a religious procession called ‘Varavelpu’ from Kanikkamandapam to the temple, which recall the incident that Guru accompanied Manikandan to the Gurukulam for the first time. This unique procession blended with Bhakti reveals the greatness of Ayyappaguru temple.