Mahāśāstṛ
Mahāśāstṛ is also called Hariharaputra and Śāstā. In Kerala and South India he is worshipped as Ayyappa. He is the divine son of Bhagavān Vishṇu, in his Mohinī form, and Bhagavān Śiva. The Lalitopākhyāna of the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells his birth in Chapter 10. It happened after the amṛta-manthana, the churning for the nectar of immortality.
He is the one son of both Vishṇu and Śiva, of Hari and Hara. This is why he is called Hariharaputra, “son of Hari and Hara”.
His birth (Chapter 10)
The Lalitopākhyāna sets the birth of Mahāśāstṛ right after the amṛta-manthana. Mohinī, the enchanting form of Vishṇu, had shared out the amṛta to the devas. She had kept the daityas from getting it, and she had slain the asura Malakāsura. Then the devas and Brahmā went away.
Śiva stayed behind. He was held spellbound by the great beauty of Mohinī. His desire was not the ordinary wish of a being for a worldly thing. It was the cosmic pull of the male principle (purusha-tattva) toward the supreme feminine power (śakti-tattva).
Mohinī vanished into the forest, and Śiva followed her. From this divine meeting of Vishṇu in his Mohinī form and Mahāśiva, Mahāśāstṛ was born.
His name means “the great teacher and ruler”. He teaches dharma with sovereign authority. He is called Hariharaputra because his father is both Hari (Vishṇu) and Hara (Śiva). No one else has had such a parentage, and it makes him the meeting point of the two highest devas of the cosmos.
His place in worship
Mahāśāstṛ’s birth from both Vishṇu and Śiva is a sign of the oneness of Śiva and Vishṇu (Śiva-Vishṇu abheda). He is worshipped widely in Kerala and South India as Ayyappa, the deva of Śabarimala. His pilgrimage is the Ayyappa dīkshā (vow of preparation) and the climb to Śabarimala. His life as a celibate warrior and his role as the cosmic overseer, Śāstā, the ruler, come from this double parentage.
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Lalitopākhyāna, Chapter 10