This has now become a reality by the grace of Lord Bhaktaparipala Sri Hariharaputra, who is directing me every moment!
Sri Bhutanatha upakhyana- This book is in your hands today after a tapas of quarter of a century. Almost after centuries, the book is brought out for the First Time in print with moola slokas in Sanskrit. My search, which began in 1997, has now completed 25 years and the book is finally ready.
The search continued
This Bhutanatha upakhyana was the first book I started looking for when I started writing Mahasastha Vijayam. This episode originally belongs to the Kerala Mahatmya, a part of the Brahmanda Purana. But unfortunately, none of the Brahmanda Purana texts available now are complete and many parts are just missing!
Over the years, we have wandered in search of this authentic text that there is no more library to go to, no more old homes to look for, no more manuscripts to turn.
Bhutanatha upakhyana...? It's in Thanjavur, It is available in full at Salem, it's in Tirunelveli, it's in the form of palm-leaves manuscripts at Alappuzha, it's in handwritten notebooks at Thiruvananthapuram, it's in Palakkad, it's in Poonjar, it's in Pandalam- I traveled to every possible place in search of this book. Going up to Varanasi and buying a version of Brahmanda Purana and the disappointment when I couldn't find Bhutanatha upakhyana in that text- thinking about all these today, all those are like sweet memories!
Why is this book so important?
Upakhyana means history! This book is the celebrated story of Lord Bhutanatha- Sri Dharmasastha who is dwelling in his abode at Sabarimala. The storyline is something we all know. Yet, the source text is always important. Reading the original book in the original form will definitely give a deeper understanding and help us grasp the actual implication.
Whilst telling a story, it is very important whether there is a confirmation in the Puranas or not! One cannot tell the story just like that in the course of something going on. Although there are many histories of hearsay in our country, the source or cross-reference of an episode in an ancient text is always appreciated.
While some people have been falsely claiming that Ayyappa is not a Puranic/Vedic deity etc, this book about Lord Sabarigrisana being a section of Brahmanda Purana, which is one of the eighteen Puranas, is gaining prominence. There are various puranic references on Lord Sastha. Of these, only the Bhutanatha upakhyana is an important source of information about the Manikanta Avatara and the Sabarigiri Pratishta!
Looking deeply into the book, many areas are made clear. Explanations have been given for dropping the stone at Kallidumkunnu, the worship of the ancestors on the banks of the river Pamba, Paying respects to the king of Pandalam by the devotees, and many such rituals.
The text says that there was a temple for the Boothagana named Vapura at Erumeli. Understanding the Sabarimala Sastha temple, created by sages ges like Parasurama and Agasthya, it is clear from the original text that many of the practices in Ayyappa worship, for instance, going to Vavar's mosque, is an interpolation and came much later.
Why one must observe Vrtham for Sabarimala yatra, how it should be? - all these are possible by reading this original book and to hear and clarify such things by the words of Lord Manikanta himself.
My quest was not over. My search was still going on... Meanwhile, a court case was filed against the devotees, disrupting the traditional practices of worship at the Sabarimala temple. At that time, the original text of Bhutanatha upakhyana was required to establish many things- such as the Sankalpa of the Lord at Sabarimala, what is naishteeka brahmacharya which is a part of the Vrtham. We presented many things from the upakhyana in the court. That is where the need for this book was understood by many.
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