After serving at Poundarikapuram Ashram for close to a decade and later helping Ahobila Mutt construct its branch in Thiru Nangur, this 84 year old Vannartrankarai resident is back at the Divya Desam where he spent his entire childhood enjoying the Brahmotsavams and the annual Vedantha Desikar utsavam
Octogenarian R Seshadri is back to where he had enjoyed his childhood in the early independence phase – with the majestic Veera Narasimha Perumal and Vedantha Desikar of Neelamegha Perumal Koil at the Thanjai Maa Mani Divya Desam at Vannartrankarai (Vannar Banks) on the Northern outskirts of Thanjavur.
It is the third day (Sept 15) of the Vedantha Desikar Avathara Utsavam at the Neelamegha Perumal Koil on the Southern Banks of Vannar and 84year old Seshadri is readying himself for the procession around the streets of Vannartrankarai that during his childhood was brimming with Vadakalaiyars. He looks back on the golden years at Vannartrankarai where he grew up amidst the Vedic and Prabhandham recital. He himself had learnt the slokams and stotras from Devanathachariar who was the Sanskrit pandit at Saraswathi Mahal. His appa Ranganathan was a Purohit in demand and the family was financially well off in those early years.
எண்தள அம்புயத்துள் இலங்கும் அறுகோணமிசை
வண்பணிலம் திகிரி வளைவில் வளைவாய் குசலம்
திண்கையில் அங்குசம் சீர் திகழும் கதை செங்கமலம்
எண்படை ஏந்தி நின்றான் எழிலாழி இறையவனே
It is just past 6.30pm and close to ten Prabhandham members are reciting Paramatha Bhangam in front of the Vedantha Desikar Sannidhi at the Neelamegha Perumal temple. Paricharakar Sridhar who works at the madapalli at Veera Narisimha Perumal temple is an alankaram specialist and is the one who has decorated desikar on this third evening of the festival.
Vibrant Vedic and Prabhandham Ghoshti during his childhood
As Seshadri arrives at the Neelamegha Perumal temple for the start of the procession of Vedantha Desikar, there are happy tears in his eyes as he recollects the glorious phase from his childhood “It was my Periappa and appa who put together this festival a 100 years ago pooling together the Ubayadarars for the ten days of the festival and they were the ones who signed these off. There were at least 10 Vedic scholars and 20 Prabhandham members presenting the Parayanam during the Desikar Utsavam and there was positive vibration all around.”
எம்பிரான் எந்தை என்னுடை சுற்றம்
எனக்கு அரசு என்னுடை வாழ்நாள்
அம்பினால் அரக்கர் வெருக்கொள நெருக்கி
அவர் உயிர் செகுத்த எம் அண்ணல்
வம்புலாம் சோலை மா மதில்
தஞ்சை மாமணிக் கோயிலே வணங்கி
நம்பிகாள் உய்ய நான் கண்டு கொண்டேன்
நாராயணா என்னும் நாமம்
As he walks alongside this writer at the start of the procession, he shows to this writer the huge tract of land between Manikundram Perumal temple and Neelamegha Perumal temple that his family had possessed way back in the 1940s and 50s. “We had quite a big house and all around the house was farm land. It was greenery all around the three temples. The South and North streets were full of Vaishnavites with Vadakalayars having a dominant presence. By the time I joined the Muncipal Corporation service in Thanjavur, the original inhabitants had begun leaving this Divya Desam seeking greener pastures in big cities and the Vaishnavite numbers dwindled with each passing decade.”
உடம்புருவில் மூன்றொன்றாய் மூர்த்தி வேறாய்
உலகுய்ய நின்றானை
அன்று பேய்ச்சி விடம்பருகு வித்தகனை கன்று மேய்த்து
விளையாட வல்லானை வரைமீகானில்
தடம் பருகு கரு முகிலை தஞ்சை கோயில்
தவநெறிக்கோர் பெரு நெறியை வையம் காக்கும்
கடும் பரிமேல் கற்கியை நான் கண்டுகொண்டேன்
கடு பொழில் சூழ் கடல்மல்லைத் தலசயனத்தே
Desikar oonjal
The pace of the procession is fast and Seshadri is seen repeatedly asking the sripatham personnel to slow down. His is a happy face when he points to the Mandapam where vedantha desikar will enjoy the swing this weekend as part of the 7th day festival, an evening that they have been supporting for decades.
As Vedantha Desikar made his way to the Singaperumal koil North Street, the happy tears turned to sadness. The first thattu of the procession was at the house of the grandson of Vannartrankarai Acharya, who has been coordinating the utsavam for a few years now. There aren't the traditionalists anymore for the agraharams have become a thing of the past.
The ancestral house and large tracts of land were sold off when the family members of Seshadri moved out of this Divya Desam. Seshadri picked up a house on the Singaperumal Koil South Street where he now resides. This South Agraharam was once vibrant with Vaishnavites forming a large part of this long street but there are just a couple of them outside of Seshadri on this street. He has always been a popular man with his vocal views on traditional aspects and as he walks through the procession, the residents of this Divya Desam enquire about his well being and if he had had his dinner.
Seshadri was a Revenue officer in his final years of service in the 1990s, a phase when he had forged a respectful relationship with Paravakottai Gopala Desikan Acharya, the Pontiff of Poundarikapuram Ashramam. He had taken Sanyasam at the Neelamegha Perumal temple and Seshadri recalls walking back from Thanjai Maa Mani Divya Desam all the way to Srirangam. The Pontiff assigned Seshadri to renovate and restore the Narayanaswami Brindavanam in Vannartrankarai that had been in a dilapidated state.
And then when Paravakottai Acharya went on a yatra, he called on Seshadri to accompany him “I walked with him from Srirangam through Kallanai, Thillaisthanam, Kumbakonam to Mannargudi before making our way back to Srirangam via Thanjavur. It was a great experience. He would not compromise, sticked to traditions, was steadfast on principles. It was those qualities that inspired me to join him a decade later after I retired from my job as a Revenue Officer.”
Seshadri with Veera Narasimha Perumal Koil Bhattar
At the turn of the century, soon after his retirement, Seshadri performed daily service at the Poundarikapuram Ashram at the feet of Paravakottai Gopala Desikan Acharya building the Patshala and the room for visitors to the ashram. It was Seshadri who anchored and oversaw the construction of the compound wall for the ashram. In that phase, Seshadri helped in the sale of a building belonging to the Ashram at Thillai Nagar and also secured an apartment for the ashram on the Melur Road through a well wisher of the Acharya.
Seshadri counts that phase at the Poundarikapuram Ashram in service to the Pontiff as a most satisfying phase in his life. Following the passing away of the Pontiff with whom he had had a close association for two decades, Seshadri made his way out of Srirangam.
He had worked for a few years in Sirkazhi before the passing away of his wife in 1994, a period when he had visited the Nangur Perumal temples. After almost a decade long service at the Poundarikapuram Ashram, he made his way to Thiru Nangur to live a quiet life away from the bustling activity he had been through over the previous years at the ashram.
He was past 70 then when he made his way to Thiru Nangur. He bought a cycle and would visit all the Nangur temples every week. It was a phase when a branch of Ahobila Mutt was being built in Thiru Nangur and Azhagiya Singar assigned Seshadri the task of overseeing the construction. It was quite a rewarding period for him as he completed the construction of the building with Azhagiya Singar making it for the inauguration.
But by this time into his mid 70s, he had had a bypass surgery and a stent had been inserted. He had had a good three years at Thiru Nangur spending time all by himself cooking each day of the year and making it to the Divya Desams praised by Thiru Mangai Azhvaar. The golden memories from his childhood pulled him back to Vannartrankarai and wanted to spend the rest of his life with the Divya Desam Perumals that he had grown up with in the 1940s and 50s.
Vedantha Desikar had by now made his way back to Neelamegha Perumal temple where a couple of the vadakalaiyars turn as sripatham members to carry their acharya around the prakara. The Prabhandham members had been reciting the Moonraam Thiruvanthathi and with the completion of the Satru Murai of Pey Azhvaar’s Thiruvanthathi and having had one final darshan on this third evening of the Desikar Utsavam, Seshadri made his way back to his home on Singaperumal South street.
தொட்ட படை எட்டும் தோலாத வென்றியான்
அட்டபுயகரத்தான் அஞ்ஞான்று
குட்டத்துக் கோல் முதலை துஞ்ச குறித்து எறிந்த சக்கரத்தான்
தாள் முதலே நங்கட்குச் சார்வு
More devotees came up to him at the temple enquiring about his wellbeing for he has always been a renowned face with his outspoken views on temple activities. There were hard stones on this dark street and as is his wont he made a jocular remark that these are good for his feet. Almost every resident of the street exchanged a few words with him an indication of his longstanding popularity in this Divya Desam.
It’s just past 7.30pm and he has made his way back home after the four street procession, one that has left him wondering if more of the original inhabitants would make their way back to this Divya Desam comprising of three temples and if they could at least make their way for the annual Brahmotsavams at Narismha Perumal and Neelamegha Perumal temples and for this utsavam of the Vadakalai Acharya. He is hoping that there would be a lot more on the birthday of Vedantha Desikar a week from today on Sept 22 when the Acharya would make his way from Neelamegha perumal temple to Manikundaram and Veera Narasimha perumal temples for Mangalasaasanam.
ஆறாத அருள் அமுதம் பொதிந்த கோயில்
அம்புயத்தோன் அயோத்தி மன்னற்கு அளித்த கோயில்
தொலாத தனிவீரன் தொழுத கோயில் துணையான வீடணற்கு துணையாம் கோயில்
சேராத பயன் எல்லாம் சேர்க்கும் கோயில்
செழுமறையின் முதல் எழுத்து சேர்ந்த கோயில்
தீராத வினை அனைத்தும் தீர்க்கும் கோயில்
திருவரங்கம் எனும் கோயில் தானே
His son has always been wanting him to come to Chennai to spend a relaxed life there with the family but Seshadri's heart has always been with the three Perumals of Vannartrankarai and he counts himself blessed that he has been able to make it back to the Divya Desam where he had spent his entire childhood enjoying the vibrant utsavams in those decades and one where he has now been able to contribute his bit as a devotee to the recent consecrations. The experience of the vedantha desikar utsavam this week has once again rekindled memories from his school days when the vaishnavites in the north and south streets came in good numbers to participate in the celebration of the vadakalai acharya.
