Shasta (deity)

[2] In South India, he is identified with the Ayyanar, Nattarayan or Sattan in Tamil Nadu, as Ayyanayake in Sinhala and the Ayyappan in Kerala.

There are references in the Puranas that narrate as to how Shasta during his tenure on earth long ago conducted discourses on Vedas and Vedantas to a galaxy of gods and sages.

[9] A Sanskrit work dated prior to the 7th century known as the Brahmanda Purana mentions Shasta as Harihara suta, or the son of Shiva and Narayana (Vishnu), the oppressor of the asuras.

[10] 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.

From the Chola period (9th century CE) onwards the popularity of Aiyanar-Shasta became even more pronounced as is attested by epigraphy and imagery.

Prior to that, Shasta veneration took place in the temples of Shiva and Vishnu, the premier gods of the Hindu pantheon.