Shri Ayyappa Mandir Haridwar
About Ayyappa Temple Haridwar
The Ayyappa Temple came into existence in the year 1958 by the efforts of Swami Vimochananda Ji who was initially from Sabarimala Hills and later settled at Karuppaiyur village, Trichy district Tamil Nadu. His efforts were fully assisted by Brahmshree Chettur Vishnu Krishnan Namboodri a great devotee of Bhagwan Ayyappa. A Trust was formed initially in the year 1964 by Shri Hariprasad Sharma to carry on activities of the temple in an effective manner for funds raising and management.
Temple History
The Ayyappa Temple came into existence in the year 1958 by the efforts of Swami Vimochananda Ji who was initially from Sabarimala and later settled at Karuppaiyur village, Trichy in Tamil Nadu. His efforts were fully assisted by Brahmshree Chettur Vishnu Krishnan Namboodri a great devotee of Bhagwan Ayyappa. A Trust was formed initially in the year 1964 by Shri Hariprasad Sharma to carry on activities of the temple in an effective manner.
It was conveyed by family of Swami Vimochananda Ji in later years that Bhagwan Ayyappa himself gave Dharshan to him and advised him to carry the Vigraha as present in Sabarimalai to Hardwar in North India, a holy place and establish his aradhana there.
Swamiji was helped by devotees to cast the Vigraha in Tamil Nadu and carried the Vigraha to Hardwar. The place was un-experienced by him and immediately on arrival he was greeted by Shri Hariprasad Sharma who identified the present site for temple construction and dharamshala for yatris then.
It also later emerged that the holy temple at Sabarimala was burnt down by miscreants in a great fire in the forest and entire complex was rebuilt there.
By that time Haridwar temple was established and daily dharshan was ensured with regular puja and neivedyams. Later it was understood by all that it was divine will which anticipated the events at holy hill Sabarimala and it wanted to spread the Ayyppa worship throughout India. This Haridwar temple became the first temple outside the state of Kerala and later guided establishement of temples at holytown of Kashi and many other places.
Initially Brahmshree Chettur Krishnan Namboodri toiled single handedly to visit Delhi and approached many good people to support his venture in building temple and dharmasthala. His untiring efforts saw the temple and aradhana materialized soon. He was instrumental in laying down puja schedule and invited people from various walks of life to visit and support the temple activities. The temple activities include celebration of Mandalam Puja, Makaravilakku, Vishu celebration and Veda Parayanam, Bhagawatha Sapthaham, Narayaneeyam recitation. The procession of Bhagwan Ayappa Makarasankranthi is noteworthy feature of town now. While many persons contributed by their leadership to the committee, some of leading persons are, Shri A.S. Nambiar, Senior Advocate, Shri R.C. Poduval, Shri M.K.D. Namboodri, Advocate who left indelible marks on the history of the temple. Presently Shri Balakrishnan, Senior Advocate, Shri Chandrasekhar, Senior Advocate are continuously supporting the temple administration in various ways.
