Legend of Erumeli Ayyappa Temple and Petta thullal

Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple is standing alone among the Hindu Temples in Kerala with its unique rituals and procedures. The devotees have to undertake continence for 41 days before visiting the temple. Devotees should avoid alcohol consumption and non-vegetarian food for all these forty-one days and they are prevented from sexual relations also.
There are many other conditions such as wear only a black dress, should not wear footwear, etc are also included in the continence. Erumeli Sri Dharma Sastha Temple is an important temple on the way to Sabarimala and it has an important place in the rituals related to Sabarimala. The most important one among those is “Erumeli Petta thullal”.
Before going into the details of “Petta thullal, the legend of Erumeli Sri Dharma Sastha Temple will be told. There are two temples in Erumeli, dedicated to Lord Ayyappa or Sri Dharma Sastha. They can locally be called Valiya Ambalam (Big Temple) and Cheriya Ambalam (Small Temple) The Valiya Ambalam is believed to have constructed by Alambillil Millakkaran, an official working under the local feudal lord Ranni Katha.
Alambillil Millakkaran went to participate in the temple festival of Thiruvambadi Temple and got humiliated by the temple authorities. He decided to construct a temple of his own as an act of revenge. As he was planning to construct a temple, he had a dream in one night in which a saint came and asked him to go to the holy River Pamba the very next day early morning and to take a bath dipping in it. The saint further told him that he will see an idol of Lord Ayyappa there.
The very next day, Alambillil Millakkaran left to have a bath in River Pamba and he got a divine idol of Lord Ayyappa. He brought it to his house. On that night the saint once again came in his dream and asked him to cultivate brown peas in his courtyard and when they ripe send a cow to eat the entire peas. The saint told him that he should let the cow go anywhere after eating the pea and he is instructed to follow the cow. Saint instructed to construct a temple at the place where the cow takes rest.
Being a staunch devotee, Alambillil Millakkaran obeyed the words of the saint, and the temple has been constructed at the place where the cow took rest. He consecrated the idol that he got from River Pamba inside the temple.

Cheriya Ambalam or Kochambalam is located about half a kilometer from the valiya ambalam and that is also dedicated to Lord Ayyappa or Sri Dharma Sastha. The legend is that there was an old lady called Puthen veettil Ammoomma who was highly religious. She belongs to the Vellala community. Hearing the stories of Ayyappa killing Demon Mahishi, she realized that Ayyappa is an incarnation of divine power and he asked his son Perusseri Pillai to construct a temple and to consecrate the idol of Lord Ayyappa.
Erumeli Petta Thullal starts from Kochambalam or the small temple and ends at Valiyambalam or the big temple. There are two legends behind the Petta Thullal. One is that Lord Ayyappa with the support of the Ambalapuzha Army, Alangattu Army, and his compatriot and warrior Vavar conquered Sabarimala which was the hideout of Udayanan, a cruel robber. Petta Thullal is considered as the celebration of victory by Ayyappa and his soldiers. The second legend says that it is to commemorate the victory of Lord Ayyappa over the demon Mahishi.

In old days all the Kanni Swamis (the devotees visiting Sabarimala for the first time) used to participate in Petta thullal and it begins on 1st of Malayalam month Dhanu and ends on 30th of Dhanu. Pettathullal by the devotees will continue day and night all these days. However, the petta thullal of the Alangattu group and the Ambalapuzha group is more popular.
Pettathullal is a ritual and it starts from the Kochambalam. The devotees start the ritual with prayer and then pay respect to Guru Swamy, the leader of the group. Then they will apply sandal paste, ash, etc on the body. This costume is to get a look that resembles tribal warriors. They will wear crowns made with leaves and creepers too. Once the rituals at the temple are over they all march to Kottapadi to the tune of drum beats. From there they will come back to Kochambalam and then visit the Vavar Mosque. Finally, the procession will end at the Valiya ambalam. There they will take round around the temple and through the leaves and sticks over the roof of the temple and will take a bath in the nearby rivulet.

As mentioned earlier the pettathullal of the Alangadu group and the Ambalapuzha group are more popular. Ambalapuzha group will begin their Pettathullal on the morning of the 27th of Dhanu month. Alangattu group will start their thullal afternoon. It is believed that Vavar will go to Sabarimala along with the Ambalapuzha Group. Hence the Alangattu Group will not visit the Vavar mosque, on their way to valiya ambalam.