Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu gave Sri Ayyappan to the world. It was just Divine Will that brought together Siva & Ranga (another name for Lord Vishnu) to start Ayyappan Pooja in Jakarta. At the Upaakarmam (Avani Avittam) gathering at Shiva Mandir on 25 August 1991, Siva (KHS) suggested to Ranga (RN): "We must do Ayyappan Pooja in Jakarta". RN reacted positively but left it at that.
On 8 September 1991, they met again at another gathering, when KHS, with his usual sincerity said, 'we must do Ayyappan Pooja here; I am serious'. Next day, RN phoned KHS and talked about this for a while, and they met on the subsequent Friday to discuss the matter. That 'Friday the 13th', essentially marked the beginning of JAKARTA AYYAPPAN POOJA !
RN hails from Nurani Village, Palakkad, which has a 350-year old history of Sastha (Ayyappan) worship. RN has also some experience coordinating Kids' Sasthapreethis as a teenager, which follows the regular village Sasthapreethi.
As a long-time veteran of Texmaco Group of Companies, Indonesia, KHS was confident of ensuring the participation and involvement of a good number of expatriates as well as local Tamil Indonesians. With this combination, we decided we could organize a great pooja.
13 September 1991
KHS & RN met, without a fixed agenda, and reckoned as below –
we had practically nothing to start with, not even an Ayyappan photo, no Ayyappan song / bhajan book, and no pooja book or even a namavali book
all that we had was a Venue for the Pooja – Shiva Mandir. We weren't sure if the Temple would permit a mass association and pooja of Non-Sindhis, South Indian expatriates in the temple, as this was never done before by any community.
we had no idea whether enough pooja-flowers were available in Jakarta and had no idea where to enquire about it.
we had no idea what would be the total cost or how to collect any money and no idea whether anybody will contribute at all, for a pooja.
we had no clue as to who all would participate, who all to invite to participate, who all would volunteer to help, etc.
And if we were to have the first Pooja some time between 29 December 1991 to 12 January 1992, we had only about 15 Sundays and 2-3 holidays.
Based on his village experience, RN suggested a broad Pooja Programme, as follows:
a. Pooja could be a Saturday-Sunday programme
b. First day, a Laksharchanai to Lord Vishnu (There was no Balaji-Idol in the temple at that time)
c. Second day, Abhishekam with Rudram and Chamakam to Lord Siva, followed by Sahasra Nama Archanai to Lord Ayyappa and Mahanivedyam, Deeparadhanai, etc.
Decided to organize the pooja in Shiva Mandir (if they permitted), erecting a Mandapam with 18-steps, placing an Ayyappan photo on top of the Mandapam for the pooja.
Harish (KHS's son) made a sketch of Lord's Mandapam and the18 steps.
KHS confirmed we had 3-4 known people who could chant Rudram, Chamakam, etc. in an orderly way.
With the above thoughts, we decided to collect all known people to form a Pooja Committee, and sub-committees as might be required.
KHS/Vatsala & RN/Jayasree met two more times in the subsequent week and reassured themselves that the pooja concept was good, and decided that they should go ahead with the plans. Then they visited the temple at 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, 22 September 1991, to seek blessings from Lord Siva, and drew up broad Pooja Programme as below, for presenting to the Pooja Committee once it is formed –
Sunday, the Main Pooja day, starting at 5 a.m. –
a). Vigneswara Pooja, Ganapathi Homam
b). Abhishekam to Lord Siva, with Rudram/Chamakam and Purusha Sooktham
c). Sahasranaama Archana to Lord Ayyappa
d). Bhajan for two hours
e). Mahanivedyam
f). Mahadeeparadhana g. Prasadam
Evening 7.30 p.m., Pirivu Thengai (putting the Lord to sleep, and parting with Him by breaking a coconut)
Previous day (Saturday), 5.30 p.m.
a). Laksharchanai with Vishnu Sahasra Naamam.
b). Ladies' Bhajan for two hours followed by Prasadam
Various names for committee probables were discussed and identified, and KHS/RN took turns to contact each one of them. It was also decided that the spouses of all the members should actively participate in the Pooja co-ordination.
After considering a few senior persons, they KHS/RN decided to request Dr Sethu to preside over the committee, with the idea that if the young committee members had differences of opinion or disputes, this senior person should settle them amicably.
It was KHS & RN's original decision, made at Lord Siva Sanctum at this meeting, to keep the committee OPEN-ENDED, permitting anybody to come into the committee and actively volunteer for pooja activities, and to this date, this concept is being followed. Anybody who volunteers in Pooja activities could claim himself/herself to be a member of Jakarta Ayyappa Seva Sangam.
Saturday, 05 October 1991, 04.00 p.m. Meeting at KHS house, E2 Complex Polri – At this meeting, the JAKARTA AYYAPPA SEVA SANGAM (JASS) was formed, with the following members –
1. KH Siva/Vatsala
2. Ranga Nathan/Jayasree
3. Dr Sethu/Gnanam
4. Balasubramanian VC/Lalitha
5. Ramesh (tall)/Radhika
6. Ramani PA/Radha
7. Vaidyanathan S/Santha
8. Padmanabhan G/Geetha
9. Ramabhadran V/Harini
10. Satchi TV/Seetha
11. Murthy N/Latha
12. Venkatesan N/Mangga
13. Mani NVS/Madhu
14. Ramakrishna C/Sarda
15. Manohar P/Rathi
16. Narasimhan RV/Akhila
17. Raveendran A
18. Shivaswamy S R
We got an 18-member committee ! This number was just a coincidence not by design. We were simply inviting and adding members to the committee, and it just happened that we ended up with 18 members in the first committee !
After a series of meetings and deliberations among the committee members/sub-committees, the pooja programme was finalized, and it was decided to conduct the FIRST AYYAPPAN POOJA in Jakarta on 11 & 12 January 1992. The Pooja programme card is appended below –
Brought the priest, Sri Yagneswara Dishithar from Singapore. Also brought a COOK (!), from Singapore, which was a last minute decision, helped by very encouraging response to the pooja idea from everybody, and a more than expected funds collection.
The pooja attempt being the first of its kind in Jakarta, all the committee members were quite excited. Special mention must be made of Bala (of Citibank) who initiated the collection drive by personally visiting lot of potential participants, gave the pooja invitation, enlisted them to participate in Laksharchana, and collected contributions. Other members followed suit, visiting people in their respective neighborhoods.
Whoever could not be personally visited, were contacted over phone, thus covering most of the Jakarta residents.
Dr Sethu did a great job reaching the pooja information to most of the Medan Tamils (Local Tamilian) requesting/encouraging them to participate in the pooja.
Bhajans & Chanting sessions
Bhajan practice sessions were held at many houses, every member showing great enthusiasm to host these sessions. There were also chanting sessions and even a mini-Laksharchana practice.
Ladies' Participation and Involvement
Our Ladies' full involvement and spirited participation in the pooja activities, were highly commendable. They were also quite excited and participated in all activities, starting from hosting home-bhajans/poojas, contacting different people and ensuring their participation in the poojas, preparing prasadams, singing Bhajans, arranging flowers and making garlands for the Lord/s, etc. etc. But for the Ladies' total involvement and participation, the pooja would never have taken off as it did, and would never have seen the level it has reached today. Kudos to all the Ladies, past and present.
Awaiting the day !
Everything was well set and everybody got ready for the grand pooja! There were lot of concerns and anxiety for KHS & RN, as that was a maiden attempt at a mass-pooja involving/inviting so many people to a public place. The concerns were many, some serious, some insignificant, like, whether people would turn up in good numbers, whether we would be able to muster 100 people for the Laksharchana, whether there would arise any objections from the public in the vicinity, whether the veteran Priest would be accommodative for this kind of inclusive pooja, and whether everything would go all right as planned, what the temple authorities will say before/during/after the pooja , etc.
Saturday, 11 January 1992
Come Saturday evening 6.30 p.m., the temple bore a very festive outlook, with devotees endlessly pouring in large numbers.
The veteran priest, Sri Yagneswara Dishithar from Singapore (known as Delhi Vadhyar), did a great job, initiating the Pooja and guiding us throughout.
The Laskharchana to Lord Vishnu was performed with great devotion and excited involvement of more than 150 archakas.
THAT WAS A CROWD, UNMANAGEABLE, FILLING THE ENTIRE TEMPLE.
Immediately after the Laksharchana, the downpour too was unforgettable. It rained heavily flooding the whole temple. We really wondered how/where all the devotees took shelter.
With the timely help of Cook, the Committee managed to serve food to most of the devotees.
Sunday, 12 January 1992
Pooja went off as planned. There was overall satisfaction and feeling of bliss amongst the participants, and a sense of accomplishment among the organizers. The priest did a great job efficiently guiding us through the Pooja, all the JASS members put up a great performance, with adorable level of excitement and enthusiasm.
There were quite a large number of local Tamilian participants. JASS is always thankful to Dr Sethu for his efforts in ensuring to bring good number of local Tamilian participants.
Well summed-up in a few words by the Indonesia veteran Late Shri PKA Narayana Iyer (Ramani's father): "Jakarta (Indonesia) has never seen a get-together like this, has never witnessed a pooja like this. This is a new dimension to expats' get-together in Jakarta!"
Year by year pooja note, detailing important events/turning points
1993 – Pooja went off well. Sri Yagneswara Dishithar came again this year also, from Singapore along with his elder brother, and performed the Poojas well. 18-Steps Pooja was started from this Second Annual pooja. This was introduced by Shri KG Menon of Malaysia, then working in Pekanbaru. Mr Menon's saranam vili (Swamiye… Saranam Ayyappa) and his conch-blowing sent distinct vibrations among all the devotees present.
1994 – Music concert – Encouraged by the spirited participation of most South Indians and with contributions never a problem, we arranged a Music Concert by Sri Trichur V Ramachandran, accompanied by Sri V Vaidyanathan on Violin and JNICC (Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Center) Bala (Mridangist and musician) on Mridangam.
That was a great success.
Questionnaire
The annual pooja was going on very well and accepted and appreciated by most of the participants. Especially the joint Laksharchana enthused everybody to participate in the pooja and return home with a great satisfaction of having done something worthwhile.
Also, everybody very well appreciated the decision and approach of KHS/RN and the whole team, in encouraging different persons to participate in the 18-steps pooja avoiding repetitions, and devotees looked forward to the opportunity of participating in this pooja.
With the idea of making doubly sure that the public really appreciated it wholeheartedly, KHS & RN circulated a questionnaire among the participants and encouraged them to respond. Most of the respondents CONFIRMED with one voice that the pooja concept was good and acceptable and should continue.
That gave KHS & RN the necessary justification and encouragement to continue with the pooja looking for more participation and involving more and more people.
1995 – Pooja went off well. A new priest, Sri Mani Dishithar came from Singapore, and performed the Poojas well, and also endeared himself to everybody. He would go on to become the only priest to have performed the annual pooja for more than three years.
1995 December – For the first time, Pooja was shifted to December (17 December 1995) from January. It was entirely God's wish that the pooja should go on without any problems. It was just He who guided us to shift the pooja to December, for –
The original pooja dates would have been 06/07 January 1996, which we had postponed. Loh! During 03-08 January, Jakarta experienced unprecedented heavy rains and severe floods causing wide spread damages. Especially flooded was the Pluit toll road and Pluit areas including temple premises. Who/What made us change the pooja dates?! It is nothing but Lord Ayyappa's Will that His Pooja should go on smoothly, without too much hardship to His sevakas and the participants.
1996, 1997 – Poojas went off very well, as usual.
1998 – The Crisis year in Indonesia. With a lot of uncertainties everywhere, it was decided to conduct both Balaji and Ayyappan poojas together on the same day, with the help of local talents. This was the only year when no outside priest was called for either pooja.
1999 – This year also, made a sincere attempt to combine the two poojas, Lord Ayyappa and Lord Balaji, as far as possible and practicable. The 1999 pooja programme is given below for general information.
Sunday, 19 December 1999
04.30 a.m - Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatham
05.00 a.m - Ganapathi Homam
06.00 a.m - Perumal Thirumanjanam
06,30 a.m - Lord Siva Abhishekam
08.00 a.m - Breakfast
08.30 a.m - 18-Steps Pooja/ Sri Sastha Laksharchana
10.30 a.m - Bhajan
12.00 noon - Maha Deeparadhana
12.30 p.m - Prasadam Distribution
2000 – Around August 2000, started planning Prathishta of Lord Ayyappa, and due to this, the annual pooja got postponed until April 2001. Though the Prathishta was planned in the last week May 2001, most of the JASS members felt that we should conduct the 10th annual pooja, as in previous years. And so, the 10th annual pooja was performed on Good Friday, 13 April 2001.
23-27 May 2001 – Lord Ayyappa was CONSECRATED in Jakarta. See separate article on this subject.
After the consecration, we started the WEEKLY POOJA. And with annual pooja now performed on the consecrated Deity, the devotees' enthusiasm, involvement and vibration reached higher levels.
All the bhajan songs were collected and neatly printed (both in Tamil and English) and put into a book.
Tabala played by Mr Hussain of JNICC! How he got familiarized with the Ayyappa songs and played tabala to Satchi's high pitch songs and encouragement was really amazing. JASS rightly named him Vavar Swami!
2002 - 2005 – Pooja went off well, performed by different priests, mainly Sri Muraleedhara Sastrigal.
2007, 6 -7 January – Arranged Music programme, by Trichur brothers & Party.
2007, 16 - 17 November – Music programme by Jakarta talents, co-ordinated by Srikant and Janaki.
2008, 14 - 16 November – 18th Pooja
Proposed Music programmes –
Music programme by Dr Sundar & Party on Saturday evening.
On Friday evening, Sri Ayyappan Bhajan songs by Kalaimamani Smt Janaki Subramaniam & Party of Chennai, India.
Priests for the annual Pooja
Mostly we got the priest from Singapore, ensuring that generally the same priest was not repeated for more than three years. This was done with the idea of giving other priests an opportunity to visit Jakarta and perform the Pooja, which also helped us to learn a variety of things from different priests.
18-Steps Pooja – First, what are these 18-steps?
For the information of those who may not be aware, right in front of the Sabarimala Temple, there are 18 holy steps, which take a pilgrim to the temple – similar to what one can see symbolically in front of our Sree Ayyappan Sannidhanam in Jakarta.
The 18 steps denote human virtues and characters – first 5 denotes the human indriyas (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin), 8 RAJAS, kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matasraya, aham and asooya; 3 gunas: satva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna; and the last 2, Vidya (knowledge) and Avidya (ignorance).
As Sabarimala pilgrims believe that by climbing the Holy 18-steps, all their sins to-date are gone, the 18-steps is of great significance in any Ayyappan Pooja, and so the devotees worship the 18-steps in some form or other.
What we have been doing in Jakarta is, prepare the 18 steps right in front of Lord Ayyappa Sanctum and invoke Lord Ayyappa in each of these steps. And the Archakas, the 18 people sitting in front of each step, will do Archana to the Lord, offering flowers.
Most of the male-devotees participating in Ayyappan Pooja for a few years now, would have and should have participated in this 18-step pooja at least once.
3-4 weeks before the Pooja, the volunteers start meticulously identifying the 18 people, as far as possible ensuring to enroll first-time participants. At the same time, we have some special allotment for local Indonesian people from Bali and Medan, and we have ensured that at least 3-4 local people participate in this pooja every year.
Dates of Annual Poojas #1 to #18 –
1. 11/12 January 1992 (see Pooja programme)
2. 09/10 January 1993
3. 08/09 January 1994 (Music by Trichur V Ramachandran & Party)
4. 07/08 January 1995
5. 17 December 1995
6. 22 December 1996
7. 21 December 1997
8. 29 November 1998
9. 17/19 December 1999
10. 13 April 2001 (Prathishta on 27 May and another Pooja on 15 July)
11. 20 January 2002
12. 12 January 2003
13. 18 January 2004
14. 18/19 December 2004
15. 17/18 December 2005 (Music programme by Balaji & Party)
16. 06/07 January 2007 (Music programme by Trichur brothers & Party)
17. 16/17 November 2007 (Music programme by Jakarta local talents)
18. 14-16 November 2008 Friday, Saturday, Sunday
19. 20-22 November 2009, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
20. 14, 16-17 November 2010, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday (Id ul Adha holiday)
21. 18-20 November 2011, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
With JASS well established and systematic functioning, the committee consisting of enthusiastic members with total involvement and everybody rendering selfless service without being asked to, and with the involvement of 'Atma Jyothi', a group of local Tamil people, in the poojas and bhajans, we believe that the Ayyappan pooja will be conducted here in Jakarta for many years to come with more and more festivities and programmes.
