Pazhur Patshala Revival

30 year old Neelakantan rejects lucrative offers, moves to the once renowned Pazhur Patshala, aims to create students as 'iconic' examples in Dharma Sastras

He has created a corpus of 2100 books on Sastras using OCR technology

A young 30 year old has just begun a long journey in his quest to protect the Sastras. R Neelakantan has quit a high paying job at a Vedic Patshala in Madras and moved to Pazhur, a remote town on the Western outskirts of Tiruchirapalli in an effort to revive the once renowned Patshala.

Not so much in the distant past, the entire town of Pazhur was filled with Vedic Vidwans and the streets reverberated with Vedic recital. For almost half a century, the patshala in Pazhur ranked among the best in the State. Angarai V Krishna Ganapadigal served there as a teacher for 45years and produced several eminent Vedic scholars. His son, popularly referred to as Matunga Ganesh Vadhyar, is said to be the Number One Vedic Teacher in Bombay.

Just under a century ago Ramachandra Iyer, the then collector of Karur, with an intention to protect Vedantham created a Vedic Patshala in Pazhur. He created a trust, allocated lands in the town and directed that the income from the lands be handed over to the Vedic Trust to run the Patshala. The Trust still owns 4 houses in Pazhur.

This was one of the only three renowned Brahmin run Patshalas in the State, the others being the ones in Thiruvidaimaruthur and Manakkal, near Tiruvarur, that consistently doled our Vedic Scholars in good numbers. 

Quality of Pazhur Patshala

The story goes that the Chettiar Patshalas that were in dominance in Tamil Nadu would not accept any break away students from the Pazhur Patshala. The view was that those who could not survive Pazhur were unlikely to survive elsewhere such was the parental guidance of the Acharyas at Pazhur.

It was one of the few Patshalas in the previous century that combined both Vedas and Sastras. However since the 1980s, the Patshala saw a downturn coinciding with the trend of the traditionalists moving away into full time academics.

Neelakantan, who belongs to the fifth generation of Vedic Scholars, has set out on an onerous task of reviving the century old patshala. He studied only till class 2 in a formal school and moved to the Raja Patshala in Kumbakonam for Vedic Education at the age of seven. Later he completed class X, Class XII and MA through the Open University Model (NIOS).  After 8 years at the Raja Patshala, he learnt Sanskrit from Mullai Vasal Krishnamurthi Sastrigal.

Neelakantan then moved to Pune where for 5 years he was under President awardee Devadutta Gannda Patil. He also learnt Nyaya Sastras and Meemaamsa Sastras.

After his five year initiation at Pune, he became a guest lecturer at Venkateswara Vedic University in Tirupathi. Over the last three years, he taught Sastras at Jagath Guru Vidya Bhavan, Ambattur. However, he was keen to move away to a traditional location away from the distractions of a city life.

The wife's supportive role

He was already earning a high salary in Madras  and his friends and relatives warned him about the likely lifestyle changes in a remote location such as Pazhur, and discouraged him from the move. But Neelakantan was not to be undone by such comments. His young wife, much against the current trend has supported him in his decision and happily moved to Pazhur in June this year with their two daughters. His wife also doubles up as a full time cook for the entire bunch of students at the Patshala. For the last four months, she has been waking up early morning and taking care of the entire requirements of the students including cooking for all them, in addition to taking care of her two young daughters. Neelakantan has already undertaken an oath that he will get his two daughters married only to Vaideehas, so this tradition continues.

Besides being a full time Guru at the Pazhur Patshala, he also teaches at the Madhwa Patshala in Srirangam and at the Sankara Mutt Patshala in Thiruvanaikaval. His brothers, Vyakarana Ratnam Manikanda Ganapadigal and Nyaya Ratnam Veda Vachaspathy Brahmashree Subramanya Ganapadigal run the Patshala in Thiruvanaikaval and support him at the Pazhur Patshala as guest lecturers.

Gurukulam Model

He has clear views on how a Patshala should be run in the current scenario “Each student has different capabilities and interest. The absorption ability too is different for each of the students. One has to understand this."

Keeping this in mind, he has devised a customized model that takes into account the capabilities of each student. He says that such customization is not possible in universities or in large institutions and is a viable option only in a Gurukulam model of education.”

Neelakantan talks personally each day to each of his students in an effort to create and sustain their interest in Vedas and Sastras. And the result, even at this very early stage, is there to see. The students seem to have bonded really well with the Guru and are seen with him all the time discussing very issues relating to the Vedas and Sastras. It is a vibrant environment at the Patshala and there is chanting all through the day. 

Neelakantan conducts a surprise inspection at 3pm with one of his students to see where he has reached that day. And tells him in a friendly tone that he will do another re-check later in the evening on the progress made.  That's truly inspiring for any student, for a Guru to pay such personalised attention through the day. 

Shortage of Experts on Sastras

There are serious issues relating to protection of Vedas and Sastras. He bemoans the fact that in the last few decades only five students have completed both Vedas and Sastras in the entire State. In the century gone by, when there were doubts on Sastras, there were real experts who would come out and clarify. Currently, if there are serious doubts on any issues relating to the 18 Puranas, there is none to look up to. There are no experts on Dharmas Sastras.

At the Thiruvanaikaval Patshala, in the last 35 years, prior to its revival in 2012, only two students had appeared for the Vedic Examination. Since the time his brothers took charge of the Patshala in 2012, 8 students have already presented the examination, a dramatic transformation indeed. 

Neelakantan's focus at the Pazhur Patshala is primarily on Sastras, with an eye on developing the analytical ability of the students. He encourages his students to debate on issues relating to the Sastras. As one watches him from a corner at the Pazhur Patshala, one can sense the great relationship that he has forged with his students. Each of them is seen listening to him with great interest. A couple of them are seen engaged in a heated debate with the teacher on issues relating to Ekadasi and Dwadasi and the process to be followed on these days by Vaishnavites, Saivites and others.

He has been practicing Dharma Sastras for the last 6 years.

Using Technology to Protect Sastras

From a young age, Neelakantan was interested in technology and took an oath to protect the Sastras through effective use of technology. He has been constantly exploring ways to use technology to improve the traditional way of life and as a tool in everyday life to protect our Sastras.

As the first step in this direction, he sourced an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for Sanskrit from Germany and has created an offline corpus that now includes 2100 Sanskrit books with indepth insights into our Sastras. Within a few minutes, he can now get reference to any content from these 2100 books which was hitherto not possible. It is to be remembered that Dharma Sastras require proof to be told for every query unlike the Vedas which focuses purely on recital.

On the anvil is an exclusive Vaideeha magazine to support the Vaideehas across the country. He has created an online Vaideeha group comprising of 130 people across TN to exchange thoughts on Sastras.

Just a Book Keeper of Sastras

Neelakantan exhibits great sense of modesty for his age. His phone does not stop ringing as I sit near him through the day. Many Vaideehas from across the country seek free solutions from him as an expert on critical issues relating to Dharma Sastras. They take forward his solutions with their customers and make money out of it. But Neelakantan remains unflustered for he sees himself as just a book keeper who God has assigned to protect and safe guard the Dharma Sastras. He is happy doing that irrespective of the financial challenges he faces now after the move to a remote location such as Pazhur.

Rejecting Lucrative Offers

Lucrative offers came his way from across TN as is the trend these days (the immediate rush to capture those that are good) but he has resisted the temptation to go after money. While monetary compensation is important, he believes that doing good, teaching and passing our historical traditions to others are just as important. Spreading knowledge is ultimately good. Everything reduces after you have given, but his knowledge seems to grow after every such conversation and dissemination, is his view.

He is keen to stay put at Pazhur and churn out a bunch of students who are well versed in both Vedas and Sastras. Currently he finds them sitting in two unaligned corners. His ultimate goal is to bring the two together and is hoping that he will be able to take some steps in this direction in the next 10 years. He is looking to develop the students at the once renowned Pazhur Pathshala as iconic examples in Sastras.

As is the case with such stories, the financial remuneration to him is very minimal. The physical pressure on the wife is very high, having to cook for the entire bunch of students, day in day out. There is little financial incentive or premium attached to a young scholar who has chosen to create the NextGen after rejecting other lucrative offers away from teaching. 

But Neelakantan is unmindful of these challenges and is determined to help protect the Sastras.