Star visits popularized shrine

BANGALORE: Each year, Sabarimala sees the most number of devotees, or `swami' as they are referred to during their period of abstinence, from the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The temple's popularity among these pilgrims, to a large extent, has been influenced by visits by people who, to many of these devotees, are gods of the silver screen.From Amitabh Bachchan to Rajkumar, numerous actors have visited the shrine.
Amitabh was shooting for Inquilab, the remake of Kannada movie Chakravyuha, when he first heard about the shrine. It was around the time when he was recovering from the grave injuries he sustained during the shooting of Coolie.
He asked senior Kannada artiste Shivaram, who has acted in more than 300 regional films, to make arrangements for a pilgrimage.
"I took him to Sabarimala with Rajkumar and Rajnikant. He walked barefoot for a while through the dense jungle. After a darshan of Lord Ayyappa, Bachchan looked like he was in a trance, and for a while, he even seemed to forget his pain," Shivaram, who has visited Sabarimala more than 70 times, told STOI.
Shivaram, now considered a guruswamy (head priest), doesn't remember how many times Bachchan visited the temple after that. Rajkumar first visited in 1971-72. After subsequent trips, he sang songs on Ayyappa with lyrics penned by famous lyricist Chi Udayashankar. This inspired many people to visit Sabarimala. Even today, video footage of visits made by the actor are shown in all the movies made on Lord Ayyappa.
The late M N Nambiar, a veteran Tamil actor, has also influenced many actors to visit the temple.
From Kerala itself, the contribution by noted singer K J Yesudas cannot be sidelined. Though a Christian, he has sung numerous songs in praise of Lord Ayyappa. Most devotees in Kerala associate bhajans on Ayyappa with Yesudas.