Pazhaya Seevaram Battle for the Vaishnavite Acharya Supremacy

What one witnessed this evening at the annual Parivettai Utsavam at Pazhaya Seevaram was distasteful and brought shame to the Vaishnavite community

Five decades after the launch of the anti brahminical wave in the state, thousands of non brahmins stood in front of Lord Varadar with folded hands invoking his blessings with utmost devotion while the two Vaishnavite sects fought out a bitter and an ugly battle in front of the Lord

It was the worst of the street fights as Thengalai and Vadakalai Iyengars fought it out this evening in full public view at the annual Parivettai Utsavam in Pazhaya Seevaram in an effort to promote and register the supremacy of their respective Acharyas.

A Public Spat between the Two Sects
There have been similar fights in the recent past on the issue of the recital of the sacred verses but largely those have been restricted to within the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram. The magnitude ( in front of several thousands) and the location (atop the hill in full public view of a large gathering) would rank this as a never before seen fight in a Divya Desam Utsavam as the Thengalais with added strength from Thiruvallikeni (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html) and Vadakalai, who had garnered numbers from Mylapore, came face to face at the hill atop Pazhaya Seevaram where Varadaraja Perumal had lay stationed through the day providing darshan to devotees after a long 12 hour trip from his abode at Kanchipuram the previous night.

It all looked fine  through the morning as the day passed in devotion with devotees in several hundreds having a peaceful darshan of the Lord, who was seen in resplendent splendor adorning the jewels presented to him by Robert Clive a couple of centuries ago. Young girls presented verses in praise of the Lord of Kanchi while the Bhagavathas sat opposite the Lord under the canopy singing praise of the Lord.

The entry of the two Vaishnavite Sects

Just around 4pm, there was a sudden surge in numbers as the Thengalai and Vadakalai gathered in large numbers around the mandapam atop the Pazhaya Seevaram hill, where Lord Varadar visits once a year on the day after Pongal to celebrate the Parivettai Utsavam. An hour later, the Lord came out of the Mandapam to make his 'down the hill' trip on his way to Thiru Mukoodal where five Lords including those Mukoodal and Salavakkam were to provide darshan to the devotees at the confluence of three rivers.

And then the tone turned sour atop the hill. Soon after the Pallaandu Thodakkam, the Thengalayars led the Ghosti down the hill. To their shock, the Vadakalayars followed them reciting the Desikar Prabhandham/ Sostra Ghosti. Thus began a fight that soon turned disgustingly violent.

A Chartered Accountant from Thiruvallikeni, who I went to a couple of years ago to commend for his brilliant mode of recital of the Divya Prabhandam at the Brahmotsavam led the Thengalaiyars against the recital by the Vadakalaiyars, who were not undone by the numbers. They retorted. The Lord stood watching the ugly battle almost in silence or so the two groups thought this evening as they made the Lord wait atop the hill while they engaged in a verbal battle.

Anti Brahminical wave in the 1960s

Almost five decades ago, the anti brahminical wave swept the temples (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/therazhundur-divya-desam.html) across Tamil Nadu that led to most traditional inhabitants leaving their home town seeking greener ‘corporate’ pastures in cities. At the turn of the century, this wave has come a full circle. This evening several thousands of non Vaishnavite devotees stood with folded hands in utmost devotion almost unmindful of this bitter battle between the two Vaishnavite sects (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/11/thiru-kannapuram-divya-desam.html).

It was also shocking that the two ghostis were video recording the fight nonstop as the Lord descended downhill, leading to the non Vaishnavite voices to utter 'these Vaishnavites would very soon in the next few minutes post these videos on face book and on other social media forums to showcase the other sect in poor light.'

As the Thengalayars went down a few steps, they stopped as the leaders of their group went up again to take up the battle of the ‘Voices’ with the Vadakalayars. 

Once the Lord reached the Pazhaya Seevaram Narasimha temple, it turned even uglier as the battle turned physical with the Vaishnavite Sects now raising their hands and hitting out at each other with the police personnel right in front of them at the entrance of the Raja Gopuram.

The non Brahmins continued to invoke the Lord’s blessings with folded hands for this was a once in a year occasion for them to have darshan of Lord Varadar in their village.

When the Vadakalais chanted the Desikar Prabhandham inside the Pazhaya Seevaram temple, the Thengalais chanted louder with Manavala Mamamunigal’s verses.The faces of the two Ghosti troupes had turned red and the anger had peaked by the time the Lord was down at the entrance of the Pazhaya Seevaram temple, when one would have expected the anger to have died down.

The two Vaishnavite sects forgot the importance of devotion to the Lord in their endeavour to register the supremacy of their acharyas in the process ending up putting the entire community to shame in front of the large wide world of devotees. The non Vaishnavite devotees would be laughing it out this evening at this shameful fight displayed by these two sects forgetting the devotional aspect of life, especially in front of God. 

In a shameful outcome, a few of the Vadakalais from Mylapore were seen with happy faces and were heard saying that they had fought tooth and nail to down the voices of the Thengalayars with their chanting of Desikar Prabhandham. Surely, this is not what the Prabhandham Acharya of Mylapore would have taught them (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/11/srihari-parthasarathy-prabhandham.html) – to engage in a battle of voices against the Thengalayars and in a physical battle as well in the view of several thousands of devotees. There were several young devotees who had turned up this evening to have darshan of Lord Varadar. They did not quite understand the high decibel levels around the Lord. Let alone youngsters, most others too would not have understood this act of the two Vaishnavite Sects.

Thus the annual Parivettai Utsavam at Pazhaya Seevaram was marred by this shameful act of the Thengalayars and Vadakalayars.

Only recently, the judges of the Madras High Court while hearing a petition on a similar case asked for the two sects to first narrow down their differences before coming to court to take up specific issues relating to the temple. From what one saw this evening, it is unlikely that these two sects will come together anytime soon for at the end of the evening, what one heard amongst them was as to whose voice was heard louder and whose hands rose higher in the physical battle.