Swami Ayyappa Kilippaattu now in print after 1947!!27/12/2010 03:44:26 Sreemath Sree Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam was the first ever work to be printed about Ayyappa Swami. Published in 1929, the Kilippaattu brought the story of Ayyaappa to popular attention for the first time in literature. The author Kallaraykkal Krishnan Kartha died around the late 1930s and the book was not available in print after 1947. It is from this work that he traditions about the pilgrimage came to be followed.
The Ayyappa Documentation Project of the Sabari Sharanasramam Trust followed the book up and managed to obtain a copy of the 1947 edition. The book is now reprinted and copies are again available for the first time after 1947.
The status of Sreemath Sree Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam Kilippaattu as far as religion and spirituality are concerned, is the same as that of the Ramayanam and Bhaagavatham Kilippaatu by Ezhuthacchan.Those works brought Sriram and Srikrishna to the popular mind in Kerala. Sreemath Sree Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam did so about our own indigenous deity, the Ayyappaswami.
In his Foreword to the new print edition, Sri. Kummanam Rajasekharan has exhorted devotees to use the book for daily reading in temples and at home. He has also asked that the holy Vrischikam month be observed henceforth as Sree Bhoothanaatha Maasam.
The rare book is available at the Ayyappa Satram being held at Palakkad from 2011 December 23rd to 27th.
Those interested in obtaining copies may also contact:
Sabari Sharanasaramam,
'Rashtrachetana'
Pullepady Road,
Ernakulam 682018
ph: 04842355575, 9447105579, 9567904159
email: sabarisharanasramam@gmail.com