Konerirajapuram Thiru Nallam

Lakshmi Maami – 7 Decades driven by Selfless Service in this ancient temple town

Teaching Bhajans to Residents at home, Sacred Verses to the Next Gen at the temple, initiating the young ones into the 'Right Way to Live' model with her KG school and Sumptuous Full Meals to all visitors

Confident that the old vibrancy in the agraharam will return

70 year old Lakshmi Maami has spent her entire life in this ancient Thiru Gnana Sambandhar and Thirunavukarasar praised temple town of Thiru Nallam, now Koneri Raja Puram and belongs to that last set of the ‘old generation’ who lived life in a completely different way, the 'old fashion' way if one may call that. 

It is the Amavasai day in Maasi and it has been her tradition to feed a Brahmin on this auspicious day. The young assistant priest of the Varadaraja Perumal Temple is hosted to a sumptuous meal at noon. This is not a one off event. This has been her way of life for the last six decades, offering selfless service to the residents of Thiru Nallam to whom her door is always open.

As a young school going kid in the 1950s, she would be woken up by her grandmother at 4am every morning of margazhi and bathed in chill water. Soon after lighting the lamp at home, she was directed to the Uma Maheswaran temple South of her agraharam house with her entire body shivering in almost unbearable cold to present Thiruppavai and Thiruvempavai. It was an early morning lesson that she has not forgotten all her life.

Sacrificed a career opportunity for family

Lakshmi Maami was one of the very few girls from that generation in this town who studied through till SSLC. She would walk through a muddy path and cross a small river to reach her school in Vadamattam, 3 kms South West of Thiru Nallam. She had a medical nurse course and teacher’s training course coming her way after her success in SSLC. She was also interested in music and dance. However, with her elder sister married off early and with a ‘mute’ mother, Lakshmi Maami took it upon her to take care of her sister and the early childhood of her (sister's) children and thus did not pursue her education or the musical/ dance path.

Supporting her sister and her mother also led to a rather delayed marriage. Compared to her elder sister, who was married off before she had turned 15, Lakshmi Maami married at 21 ( very late for girls from the Thiru Nallam Agraharam), to a man, 17 years older!!! As was the norm in those days, she nodded to the voice of the father and to the elders in the agraharam.

Harikatha, Bhajans and Thiruvachakam

Her father in law KN Devaraja Bhagavathar (popularly referred to as Aiyan Kutty) was a renowned Harikatha exponent of Thiru Nallam.and presented legendary tales, alongside Thiruvayaru Annanswamy Bhagavathar and Embar Vijayaraghavachariar, to large audiences during festive occasions at Travancore,  Thiruvaduthurai and Senkalipuram, among many other sacred locations.  His was the most sought after Harikatha during the 10 days of the Brahmotsavam at Thiru Nallam. 

As contrasted with his father, Narayanaswamy, Lakshmi Maami's husband followed the Bhajans path to devotion and presented in temples including during the Rama Navami Utsavam at the Varadaraja Perumal Temple in Koneri Raja Puram. Unfortunately, here too, she was pushed to the side as her husband did not approve of her to sit in his Bhajan class. 

From the corner of the kitchern, Lakshmi gave an ear and grasped a lot of insights from her husband’s bhajan classes that he took at his agraharam home, a learning that she is currently passing on into the residents of Thiru Nallam through her classes on sampradaya bhajans.  Each day of Margazhi, she joins her students in the early morning Bhajans around the streets of Thiru Nallam. To encourage them into participation, she rewards the regular attendees with prizes at the end of Margazhi. 

Also, a bright kid that she was at school and having missed out on higher education, Lakshmi took it upon her to run a ‘KG’ school from her home teaching the young kids the basics of life, thus laying a strong foundation. They would help render simple services such as cleaning the back yard and drawing kolam in the morning. For a dozen years, she ran this school before letting it pass to another school. 

As has been the case all her life, she took this as well in her life and moved on into the next phase of her knowledge initiation. Remembering the learning from her childhood days of the verses of the Saint Poets, Lakshmi Maami has over the last 15 years been initiating the teachings of the  Saint Poets into the minds of the young kids of Thiru Nallam, 30 of them are currently learning the sacred verses from her at the Uma Maheswarar temple.  

A Vibrant Agraharam

She remembers the vibrant agraharam that this once was in her childhood in the 1950s. 220 traditional families, mostly followers of Saama Vedas, lived in the 5 streets of Thiru Nallam. They dedicated their lives in the service of Lord Uma Maheswarar. Festivals were grand at that time with the Vaikasi Brahmotsavam being the grandest. The Silver Rishabha Vahanam attracted the largest crowd. The Lord was always led by devotional Vedic Chants during these processions. Several thousands of devotees and Bhagavathas from all the surrounding villages too came in to participate in the Brahmotsavam festivities. It was a unified festival with the villagers coming together to ensure that the entire festival is managed smoothly.  

Full Time Archakas and Paricharakas

There were two full time archakas and two paricharakas, who were all given independent houses in the agraharam to reside. The father of Sivanesan Sivachariar (now in Mayiladuthurai) served in the temple for several decades. Six kaalam pooja took place till late in the 2^nd half of the previous century. The archakas who had large families were given paddy from the yield. The salary was less but they rarely complained for they lived a simple life and within their means. The trustees of the temple and the residents of Thiru Nallam helped the archakas lead a reasonable life by ensuring that their families were taken care of, both financially and otherwise.

Missing Jewelry and a bold statement

The temple managed by the trustees in those decades found a way to run these festivals in a grand way with beautiful flower decorations and the Lord decked with ancient Jewels for each of the Vahana processions. Prasadam like Pongal  and Sundal too were made in large quantities in those decades.

The Jewels, comprising of over 3 kgs of gold, which Lakshmi Maami has been a witness in many a street procession of the Lord in the 1950s and 60s are now missing from the temple. She has turned a witness in the court about the sudden disappearance of the jewelry from the temple cabinet.  

Subsequent to the HR & CE taking over the temple in the 1980s, the prasadam quantity has dropped drastically to a very minimal level now. There is just a single priest for the entire temple and a 'Mei Kaavalar' manages the temple and darshan a lot of the time.

A selfless service driven life

Lakshmi Maami has lived a very simple life right from her school days. Ever ready to feed a hungry soul and always at the forefront to teach the right way of life to the young kids, Lakshmi has been a sweet spot in the agraharam of Koneri Raja Puram over the last six decades. 

During the Rama Navami Utsavam at the Varadaraja Perumal Koil, she feeds close to 50 devotees morning and evening each day of the utsavam. She also takes it upon her to feed all the visiting devotees during the big utsavams of Thiru Nallam ( there are no restaurants anywhere close to Thiru Nallam).

For those with ill health, she does pooja invoking the blessings of  Lord Vaidhya Nathar at the North East end of the temple. Devotees in scores have come back to inform her about the recovery of the sick, another endorsement that presenting prayers with pure devotion will reach the Lord's ears.

The selfless person that she has been all her life found support from the Periyava of Kanchi Mutt who directed her to accompany the huge contingent of devotees making it to Kashmir for the annual Sankara Jayanthi celebrations to ensure that everything is undertaken the traditional way during the trip.

The Tambura of her father in law used for his renowned Harikatha presentations is still a much cherished possession in her house though many of the other musical instruments of his has moved away from her grasp.  

The vibrant agraharam is now down to just around 30 families, comprising almost entirely of senior citizens. However, the real good news is that many of the young kids who had a strong foundation in her school have now graduated and are now in well paying jobs around the world including in the IT industry in the US. Credit to her devotional way of life and her teachings, these students now in their 20s and 30s have not forgotten their learning from their childhood days and constantly call her thanking her for her early initiation . They also enquire about her financial needs promising to support her in every way. 

They are keen to buy back their ancestral property which their forefathers had sold in the 60s and 70s, when financial insecurity loomed large and rent from the leased lands suddenly found difficult to come by.  She is hoping that not so far into the distant future the agraharam will come to be vibrant once again like it was in the 1950s and that the Brahmotsavam that was revived a couple of years ago after a 40 year break will be restored to its glory days again.

A first sign was seen on Monday night when several thousands stayed through the night to witness the four kaalam abhishekam on Maha Sivarathri, the biggest crowd for many decades. It was a night when Lakshmi Maami did not sleep for well over 30 hours, for she was presenting the story of Sivarathri, batch after batch, to the devotees who congregated at the temple from all the villages in the region. A fighter that she has been all her life, she also ensured that the temple remained open till the final set of devotees had darshan on Tuesday morning.

It  is unlikely we will see one like Lakshmi Maami again.

Koneri Raja Puram is about 15 kms East of Kumbakonam off the Karaikkal Highway.

A story on the temple follows....