Shree Ayyappa Temple

Overview

The Shree Ayyappa Temple is situated at Kanjurmarg, in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. It is regarded as the first ancient temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa outside Kerala state. The temple is situated on top of a hill within the precincts of NCH Colony. Most noteworthy feature of the temple is that the deity is worshipped only through a window with nine holes. It is also known as Navagraha Kindi. A tiny flowing body of water originating from the vicinity adds the holiness and beauty of environment.

Legend and Stories

As revealed by the famous astrologer Shri Karuvatta Kochugovindan, there was a big and beautiful Devi temple and a small Ayyappa temple at this place, where today stands the temple of Shree Mini Sabarimala. These temples were destroyed by the foreign invaders. The remnants of these can be seen even today. The invaders also killed the priests of these temples. Since then the devotees used to worship Shri Ayyappa in the same dilapidated temple. Therefore after the formation of the temple trust in 1960, a need was felt to perform certain purification rites or the Dosha Parihara Kriyas like Astha Mangala Deva Prashanam. These rites were the prerequisites for starting the main construction work and re-installation of images. Accordingly in 1980, after performing Ashta Mangala Deva Prashanam, the temple trust started the construction work as per the details in Tantra Vidhi and Thachu Shastra of Kerala. They reconstructed the main Ayyappa temple in the center and temples of Devi Bhuvaneshvari and Shri Ganesha to its left and right respectively. Sarpakavu or the Nagadevatas were also installed in the Northeastern corner.

Punahpratishtha or the reinstallation of Shri Ayyappa image and other images made of Panchaloha was done on Pushya Nakshatra day of the Kerala Hindu calendar, in the Midhunam (June–July) month by Shri Pullamvazhi Devan Narayanan Namboothiri, Pullamvazhi illam, Haripad, the famous Vedic and Tantra scholar from Kerala. During the year 2000, again the Ashta Mangala Deva Prashanam was performed. Various Poojas and Homams and Kalashabhishekam etc. were performed by Mahatanthri Shri Devan Vasudevan Namboothiri.

How to Reach Kanjurmarg

The nearest Airport is in Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. Kanjurmarg is a railway station on the Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. Mumbai is perfectly connected by a road network to the rest of India.

Temple Address

Shree Ayyappa Temple,
Kanjurmarg, Mumbai,
Maharashtra.