Om Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa
It is a matter of great pleasure and extreme satisfaction to have the blessings of Swami Ayyappa, who is guiding us as a great “GURU”, who uphold each one of us, in this period of Kaliyuga. Each visit to Swami Ayyappa Temple is reiterating the fundamentals of “Thathwamasi” means “It’s you”. Once you reach Swami Ayyappa temple, then you are Swami Ayyappa by body and soul. We are blessed to have a “Shree Swami Ayyappa Temple” at Gottigere.
About the Temple
It is believed that lord Rama & lord Lakshmana travelled via Gottigere (Dhandakaranya) on the way towards lanka patna (Sri Lanka) in search of Sita Matha and we are blessed to have the temple in this place. Swami Ayyappa temple at Gottigere have become a centre of worship in the recent past. This temple is a result of a collaborative effort of Ayyappa devotees from the surrounding areas.
The devotion to Lord Ayyappa was deep routed as a part of a Sabarimala pilgrimage, which started in Lord Shiva Temple in Gottigere under the guidance of Shree Nagaraj Guruswami in the year 1980 and Shree Raghu Guruswami from the year 1994. Devotion to Swami Ayyappa is always a spirit and overwhelming feeling to all devotees with the infinite blessing and Oneness. Ayyappa Swami devotees wished to have a place for Pooja and Bhajana and started searching for an ideal place. This search ended near a place next to Madduramma temple located on a small hillrock called Madduramma Gutte, later known as Ooru Gutte (near the Current Water tank).
Madduramma is Bhadrakali (Amma) and worshipped by all villagers in the surrounding area for ages with offerings for prosperity with good rain and agriculture.
In September 2002 Trustees of Adi Shakthi Kemmpamma and Shani Bhagawan temple offered a place for Garbha Gudi (Sreekovil). They placed four stones and one stone in the middle for installation of the idol and requested Sri Raghu Guruswami to construct Swami Ayyappa Temple. All Swami Ayyappa devotees were delighted and started organizing the temple construction.
The construction was started with enormous financial and selfless support from Sri Ashok Kumar Swami, Sri Praveen Kumar Swami, Sri Sravan Kumar Swami, Sri Harish Swami, and many other residents of Gottigere. The idol was arranged from Shivaripatna, a well-known place for sculpting. After construction, the idol of Ayyappa was installed on 14 Nov 2003 by Dr. Shree RS Varada Raja Swami who is a staunch devotee of Swami Ayyappa and a well-known physician who promoted Ayurveda. Further, the temple is maintained by Sri Raghu Guruswami, Sri Nagaraj Guru Swami and the devotees started worshiping Swami Ayyappa. Shree Satish Swami was appointed as Melshanthi and he continued the poojas till October 2006. Subsequently Sree Ranjith Kumar Namboothiri had taken over the responsibility as Melshanthi.
In the year 2007 Shree Mani Guru Swamy who has served for 30 Years in Shabari Mala along with traditional thantri’s under his leadership and by Brahma Shree Thantri Kantaru Mohanru performed “Dhwaja Prathishtapane” which was a major accomplishment to the Trustees and devotees.
Since then all auspicious days are celebrated at Swami Ayyappa Temple with arrangements for Bhajana, Irumudi Kettu and Annadanam during auspicious days. As time passed, there were changes in conducting poojas at the temple and the devotees planned to have an “Ashtamangala Devaprashnam” to understand “Doshas” and get “Pariharas” to ensure the prosperity of the temple, devotees and premises.
