Shasta (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

Śāstā) is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

deity of Dravidian origin, usually associated with Shiva and Vishnu. In

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and reg ...

, Shasta is considered to be another name of Ayyappan, described as the offspring of Shiva and

Mohini Mohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, ') is the Hindu goddess of enchantment. She is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a ''femme fatale'', an enchantress, who maddens lovers and demons, sometimes leading them t ...

. His principal function is to act as a

kuladevata A kuladevatā (), also known as a kuladaivaṃ, is an ancestral tutelary deity in Hinduism and Jainism. Such a deity is often the object of one's devotion (''bhakti''), and is coaxed to watch over one's clan (''kula''), gotra, family, and chil ...

of a given clan, as well as act as a guardian of a village's boundaries. In South India, he is identified with the Ayyanar in Tamil Nadu and the Ayyappan in Kerala.

Significance

''Shasta'' is a generic term that means "Teacher, Guide, Lord, Ruler" in Sanskrit. In South India, a number of deities are associated with Shasta. The Tamil song ''Shasta Varavu'' states that there are eight important incarnations and forms of Shasta. This is also present in the agamic work ''Dyana Ratnavali''. The ''Ashta-Shasta'' (eight Shastas) are ''Aadhi Maha Shasta'', ''Dharma Shasta'' ( Ayyappan), ''Gnana Shasta'', ''Kalyana Varadha Shasta'', ''Sammohana Shasta'', ''Santhana Prapti Shasta'', ''Veda Shasta'' and ''Veera Shasta''. ''Brahma Shasta'' is another term associated with Kartikeya.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, Aiyanar is used as the regional name of the deity ''Shasta''. The earliest reference to ''Aiynar-Shasta'' is from the Arcot district in Tamil Nadu. The stones are dated to the 3rd century C.E. They read "Ayanappa; a shrine to Cattan." This is followed by another inscription in Uraiyur near Tiruchirapalli which is dated to the 4th century C.E.Williams, J., ''Kaladarsana'', p.67 Literary references to ''Aiyanar-Cattan'' are found in Silappatikaram, a Tamil work dated to the 4th to 5th centuries C.E. The Tamil Sangam classics Purananuru, Akananuru etc. refer to Ayyanar and "Cattan" in many poems. There are several numerous references to Shasta in Sangam works. Some Tamil inscriptions of the Sangam period and a few of the later Pallava and Chola period coming in from various parts of the kingdoms refer to him as Sevugan and Mahasasta. The hymns of some

Alvars The Alvars ( ta, ஆழ்வார், Āḻvār, translit-std=ISO, lit=The Immersed) were the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused ''bhakti'' (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, in their songs of longing, ecstasy, and ...

like Tirumangai Alvar and Nammalvar in temples like Tirumogur near Madurai refer to Shasta.Williams, J., ''Kaladarsana'', p.66 A Sanskrit work dated prior to the 7th century known as the

Brahmanda Purana The ''Brahmanda Purana'' ( sa, ब्रह्माण्ड पुराण, ) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas, a genre of Hindu texts. It is listed as the eighteenth Maha-Purana in almost all the anthologies. The text ...

mentions ''Shasta'' as Harihara suta, or the son of Shiva and Narayana (Vishnu), the oppressor of the

asuras Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...

. There are references in the

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

that narrate as to how Shasta during his tenure on earth long ago conducted discourses on Vedas and to a galaxy of gods and sages. Later on, the Saivite revivalist Appar sang about ''Shasta'' as the progeny of Shiva and Tirumal (Vishnu) in one of his Tevarams in the 7th century. The saint Sambandar, in one of his songs, praises Ayyanar as a celibate god, invincible and terrible in warfare, taking his abode alongside the bhootaganas of Shiva. The place sanctity and history document, or sthala purana of Tiruvanaikkaval, a Shaivite temple near Tiruchi, which was first documented by the sage Kashyapa, informs us that Shasta once served Shiva at that site and after being blessed with a vision was instructed by God to take his abode in the outer sanctorum. It says that Shasta continues to worship him during the day of tiruvadirai. Adi Sankara also has referred to Ayyanar in sivanandalahari in one verse . Some ancient hagiographies have accounted that Sankara was a ''deivamsam'' (divine soul portion) of Shasta (''sevugan''), the same way that Sambandar was a divine portion of Skanda and Sundarar a divine portion of Alagasundarar. He is also known to have composed verses praising the deity but the same are not available to us as of today. From the

Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...

period (9th century C.E) onwards the popularity of ''Aiyanar-Shasta'' became even more pronounced as is attested by epigraphy and imagery.Williams, J., ''Kaladarsana'', p.62

Kerala

The Shasta religious tradition is particularly well developed in the state of Kerala. The earliest inscription to ''Shasta'' was made in 855 C.E. by an Ay King at the Padmanabhapuram Sivan temple. Independent temples to ''Shasta'' are known from the 11th century C.E. Prior to that, ''Shasta'' veneration took place in the temples of Shiva and Vishnu, the premier gods of the Hindu pantheon. Since late medieval times, the warrior deity Ayyappa's following has become very popular in the 20th century.

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