Ameena Seshadri Parthasarathy Koil

For over 25 years, his has been a voice that a devotee to the Parthasarathy Perumal Divya Desam in Thiruvallikeni could hardly have missed

The man responsible for the timely conduct of temple services and utsavams and one who has seen and overcome several challenges during his time at the temple has one unfulfilled dream – that of serving Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam as the Maniyakaarar

Sholavaram (Pettai) Ranganathan was keen that his son Seshadri take up to auditing but the young mind was destined to spend a major part of his life serving the Lord in an ancient Divya Desam. The boy who schooled at National Boys School, Triplicane quit academics at the age of 13 and with a traditional tuft and a dhoti moved to the Avathara Sthalam of Vaishnavite Saint Ramanjua at Sriperambudur (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/ramanuja-avathara-utsavam-sriperambudur.html ) to serve at the Madapalli there. Subsequently, for a couple of years, he stayed in the house of his great grandmother Kooram Pattamma at Pettai, a period when there was no electric lights at the house, and performed Madapalli service at Thirumazhisai (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/02/jagannatha-perumal-temple-thirumazhisai.html), Sriperambudur and at the Mudhaliandan temple in Nazratpettai.

Venkidi's Transformational Change at Kanchi

It was while he was performing service at the Adhi Kesava Perumal temple in Sriperambudur that he caught the eye of Koil Annan Kanthadai Kumara Venkatachar, a descendant of Mudhaliandan, the first disciple of Ramanuja ((https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/09/muthaliandan-ramanujas-first-disciple.html). So impressed was the revered acharya with the devotional intent of Venkidi (that’s how he was called by those close to him) that he took him along to his Thiru Maligai in Kanchipuram. It was to be a life defining moment for the young 15 year old boy. 

     Seshadri in the 1970s with the current Mudhaliandan Swami

Once he moved to Sriperambudur from Thiruvallikeni in 1972, Seshadri rarely stayed with his parents so much so that when Kumara Venkatachar Swamy organised for his Upanayanam, the young Seshadri went around the whole of Madras searching for his parents to invite them for the ceremony the next day for he did not even know where they were residing.

Fully Dedicated to his Mentor and Acharya

For 5 years from 1976, he performed daily service at the Thiru Maligai of Mudhaliandan. The Swamy initiated him into Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, Grantham, the art of making sacred Thaligai and more importantly the mantras to be chanted for every sacred activity that one performs each day. During this period, he would wake up each day at 4am, have a cold water bath, wash the clothes of his acharya, cook food and perform service through the day for his acharya.

It was also a phase when Venkatachar Swamy taught him life lessons that Seshadri has not forgotten to this day – that of being contented in life, not succumbing to temptations of life and to be generally controlled in one’s actions at all times. 

Every day Darshan of Athi Varadar 40 years ago
Seshadri was blessed to be right near the Varadaraja Perumal Temple 40 years ago for the Athi Varadar Utsavam.  There would be at least 50 disciples who made their way to the Thiru Maligai of Mudhaliandan Swamy each of the 48 days. It was Seshadri who cooked and presented food on each of these days serving a large number of disciples. This experience also equipped him with the ability to cook varied food for as many as 1000 people in one go. He also enjoyed the experience of having darshan of Athi Varadar on each of the 48 days. 

During those five years, he had the great experience of accompanying Venkatachar Mudhaliandan Swamy to the Kooram temple each Hastham of the year.

So pleased was Venkatachar Swamy with the service of Seshadri that he appointed the 20 year old as a Theertha Gumastha at the Singaperumal Koil in 1980, a rare privilege that entitled the youngster to have the first rights at the temple. While Mudhaliandan Swamy continued to reside in Kanchipuram, Seshadri moved to Singaperumal Koil into the Thiru Maligai of Mudhaliandan Swamy.

A treasured moment - Receives Sambhavanai of Rs. 60/- from his Acharya for his devotional service

For the next five years, he was under the care of Vadakapatti Narayanan, a disciple of Mudhaliandan performing daily service at Singaperumal Koil.  He was paid a monthly sambhavanai of Rs. 60 by Mudaliadan Swamy for his service activity, an amount that Seshadri that treasured for he received it from his mentor and acharya who had taught him the Vaishnavite Sampradayam.

During the Brahmotsavam, the temple personnel would beat the drum and led by the Theevatti, would visit the Thirumaligai of Mudhaliandan Swamy to invite him for the first rights at the utsavam that included parivattam, theertham and sacred flower garland.

It was also a period when Seshadri began initiating the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham to a bunch of students from Chengalpattu and to a few at the Singaperumal Koil including a couple of Bhattars.

Financial Challenges in his childhood

In the mid 1980s his father, who had seen severe financial challenges in the 1960s and 70s, moved to madapalli service at a temple in Banaswadi in Bombay. Seshadri too was asked to join his parents there.  The period in the 60s and 70s was so bad, financially, that even paying the monthly rent of Rs. 25 for the house where they stayed in Thiruvallikeni was a challenge for the family.  His father performed kainkaryam in three temples but without much of a salary.

Thiruvallikeni Adyapaka ropes Seshadri to the Parthasarathy Temple
It was during his stay in Bombay that Adyapaka Deivanayakan Swamy of Thiruvallikeni asked him to apply for the ‘Ameena’ Post at the Parthasarathy Perumal Koil. He served as a trainee ‘Ameena’ for a year at the temple, after which  he worked for a brief period in a corporate environment, the only time in his life that he was away from temple service.

In 1993, a formal interview was conducted and he was officially appointed as the ‘Ameena’ ((Maniyakaarar) of the Parthasarathy temple . It was much a respected post even from the days of the British for even in those times, 'Ameena' was bestowed with the primary rights and responsibilities to conduct the daily services as well as the utsavams in a timely manner. He was also the one that the temple looked forward to for information on any deviation in services by any of the personnel at the temple.

For over 25 years, he has been the official timekeeper at the temple having streamlined many of the activities at the temple. It has not been an easy period though, for the 1990s witnessed many challenging moments not least from the Sripatham of the time. He was also new at the temple and had to bear the brunt of the challenges that arose during most of the street processions. But his devotional commitment helped him sail through that phase. 

Political climate at Parthasarathy Koil

Like many other temples administered by the HR & CE, this one too has had its fair share of political interference. For a brief period a decade ago, driven by political pressure, he was moved away to the role of paricharakar and also to manage the counter. There was even a plan to remove him from the temple such was the group-ism among the powers that be but good sense finally prevailed and he was reappointed as the Ameena.

Similar to Srirangam, the processions at the Parthasarathy temple have been on time ( that was not always the case till the 1990s) after Seshadri took over as the Maniyakaarar. He is also proud of initiating ‘Ekantha Sevai’ for Narasimha Swamy during the Brahmotsavam, an event that was kicked off just over two decades ago. He is also happy that during his stint at the temple, he has been able to manage various service personnel adopting a consensus decision making approach whenever issues have flared up.

While his father wanted him to become an auditor, Seshadri wanted his two children to take up IAS but their interests too were elsewhere and have taken up to work in the corporate world.  Determined to have an IAS official in the family, Seshadri has now instilled the thought  in his grandchildren.

Service at Srirangam - A Long Cherished Dream

Seshadri will soon be turning 60 and his time could be up at the Parthasarathy temple same time next year, even though talks are already on for a possible extension of his service given his terrific contribution to the temple, the clean sheet and the track record at the temple and the fact that all the service personnel have been comfortable engaging with him.

His has been a loud and prominent voice one has heard at this Divya Desam for over 25 years. When unhappy with the performance of any service personnel, especially ahead of a procession, Seshadri’s has been the first voice to come out. 

Despite the numerous challenges he has had to face at the Parthasarathy Perumal Koil as the Maniyakaarar of the temple, he considers the peace of mind that he has had over the last couple of decades as the greatest blessing of his life. Each night when he has gone to bed, he has done so with the satisfaction of having served the Lord that day. And that is a blessed state to have been in. He says that the five years under the tutelage of Venkatachar Mudhaliandan Swamy also gave him the people management skills that has held him in good stead at the Parthasarathy Koil, especially during tough times.

Into the future, he  wants to initiate youngsters into Nalayira Divya Prabhandham during his free time so the sacred verses of the Azhvaars are passed on to the next generation.

His long cherished dream has been to serve Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam as the Maniyakaarar of the temple. He is hopeful that one day in the not so distant future that this dream will become a reality.