Brief History Of Sree Ayyappa Devasthanam
The Ayyappa Bhaktha Samithi, Lalbazar came into being in early 1963 under the presidentship
of late Sri K Kochaiyappan with few ardent devotees of Lord Ayyappa as its members.
The aim of this Samithi was to conduct pooja during the Mandalakalam and thus provide
an opportunity to the devotees of cantonment area and nearby places including the
devotees of Defence Establishment/Units to worship Lord Ayyappa. The initial venue
for the pooja was erstwhile Doddi village (now Subhash Nagar). This pooja site was
subsequently shifted to various places such as premises of Lalbazar Mahankali Temple,
MCEME Hokey Ground, Kendriya Vidyalaya Picket and 91 Meadows Barracks Lalbazar during
the period from 1965 to 1988 due to obvious reasons. The registration of the Samithi
was done in 1983.
Because of the frequent changes in the venue, the members of the Samithi as well
as the devotees suffered lot of inconvenience and therefore, it was decided to purchase
a piece of land for the construction of a Bhajana Mandiram. With the unstinted support
of members and whole-hearted cooperation of devotees/philanthropists, a piece of
land near Indian Airlines Colony was acquired in 1986 for the purpose.
When it was planned to construct the Bhajana Mandiram in the land purchased, Mr.
Thirumal Rao & Brothers, an ardent devotee from Alwal, came forward to offer the
land where the Devasthanam is now situated. This location was considered ideal for
the Ayyappa Devasthanam because of its ambience and holiness of the premises comprising
of Nagadevata Temple, Guruvayoorappan Temple, Church and the Mosque at the hill
top. The Bhajana Mandiram was built at this location by disposing off the piece
of land already acquired. It was inaugurated by Lt Gen (Retd) YV Radhakrishna, AVSM,
the then Commandant MCEME, on 16 Nov 1989. Initially there was no deity and only
the Mandalakala Pooja was performed in this Bhajana Mandiram.
Considering the compelling demand of the devotees, it was decided by the Samithi
to install the Idols of Lord Ayyappa, Ganesh & Murugan and perform poojas on day-
to-day basis in the traditional way. As a result of the hard work put in by the
members and with the cooperation of devotees/well wishers, the Samithi could restructure
the Bhajana Mandiram into a Devasthanam. It was a matter of pride for the Samithi
that the consecration ceremony of the three Idols was performed by the Traditional
Chief Priest of Shabarimala, Brahmasri Kantaru Mohanaru Thantri on 31 Jan 1994.
The Samithi could add on to another achievement by constructing the Sree Dharma
Sastha Bhojanalayam with the help of donations received from members, devotees/
philanthropists and thereby fulfill the long cherished desire of everyone. The samarpanam
of the Bhojanalayam was done on 16 Nov 2009.
The activities of the Devasthanam are vested with the Managing Committee elected
from within the members of the Samithi once in two years.