TN Sripatham Petition HR & CE Minister

The TN Sripatham Sangam led by Kapaleeswarar’s Sankar present a written petition to the CM and the HR & CE Minister about their plight

"3.60Lakh family members of the TN Sri Patham carriers dependent on this service for their livelihood have been affected by the lockdown"

While they have an informal financial contract with the temples for Brahmotsavam and are paid a fairly large sum for the service, the lockdown over the last 12 months and the consequent cancellation of many of the big utsavams has hit them financially

Sripatham carriers are often a neglected lot. Their round the year selfless service usually goes unnoticed. They have been in for a tough time over the last 12 months with temple restrictions arising out of the pandemic hitting them hard. 

In a first of its kind move, the informal group of TN Sripatham Sangam has presented a written petition to the TN CM Thiru M.K. Stalin and the HR & CE Minister Thiru P Sekar Babu last Friday.  This was signed and presented on behalf of the TN Sripatham Sangam by Sripatham K Sankar, who is a Mestri of the Mylapore Temples Sripatham team.

The petition says that 3.60Lakh family members of the Sri Patham carriers in TN are dependent on this service for their livelihood. In the last 12 months, since the announcement of the first lockdown, the Sripatham families have undergone a lot of stress with many of them not being able to pay the house rent and the fees of their children’s education.  

He says that many of them are in a stage where even finding the finances for the next lunch has become a challenge. They also perform various other services relating to Theppotsavam and Brahmotsavam.

Sankar is a leader of the Mylapore Temples Sripatham and anchors the conduct of the processions in many temples in Mylapore. He has been serving as a Sri Patham carrier in Mylapore temples for the last 25years. His forefathers too had carried the Lords of Mylapore on their shoulders for several decades. He also organizes the ‘Pandal’ and 'Thoranam' in Mylapore temples during the big utsavams. Sankar and the team of 60Sripatham members carry on their shoulder Kapaleeswarar, Madhava Perumal, Kesava Perumal and Venkatesa Perumal of Mari Chetty Street in addition to  the Lord of many other temples in Mylapore. 

Informal Financial Contract with the temple

The Sripatham group have an informal financial contract with the temple for their service. Many of these temples pay them quite a large amount for their service especially during the Brahmotsavam when there are two Vahana Processions each day. In addition to this, the Sripatham also collect money from the residents and shops during the Brahmotsavam processions.

The last day of the Kapali Brahmotsavam 

For years, it is a well known fact around the Mada Streets that on the 11th day of the Panguni Brahmotsavam at the Kapaleeswarar Temple, the Sripatham collect huge amounts of money from the residents of the four streets including from all the shops. This year, the procession on that final day took several hours as the Sripatham were in collection mode from these residents. The Sripatham even decide on the amount of money that they (the residents / shops) should pay for their service during the Brahmotsavam and more often than not it has become a tradition for this amount to be paid to them on the final day of the utsavam. Else, the procession does not move like it stood for almost an hour in front of the Karpagambal mess on that 11th day!!! 

At the Kapaleeswarar Temple too, the Sripatham is chosen based on a tender process similar to the one Parthasarathy temple. 

Feedback from TN Sripatham members

Sankar told this writer that prior to the full lockdown, he and his team went around TN Temples including Thiruvannamalai and Mannargudi to engage in discussions with the Sripatham personnel in many of the temples to understand their issues. It was following the feedback from Sripatham across the state that they decided to present their case to the Government.

He is hoping that the newly elected government will look into the issues relating to the Sripatham and provide an appropriate solution. 

Five Specific Requests

In the written petition, a copy of which is available with this writer,the TN Sripatham members have placed five specific requests before the TN CM and the HR & CE Minister. He has asked them to be included in the list of workers in the unorganised sector, to reopen the temples to processions as soon as possible, to stop the tender process for Sripatham selection every year/periodic intervals, to take proactive steps to prevent accidents during street processions that have many times put the lives of the Sripatham at risk and to consider them for temple service posts when the vacancy arises.

Sripatham Models in TN

Multiple models are in existence in temples across the state. In the Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni, the Sripatham is chosen through a tender process and for well over a decade it is the traditionalists who have carried the Lord on the shoulder, while in Srirangam, the Sripatham are HR & CE staffers who double up in other temple work when there are no processions. Over the last 50 years, Srirangam Vethal Service, an informal group of over 300 volunteers based in and around Srirangam, have been providing selfless service of carrying the Lord, especially on long street processions, in addition to the official HR & CE appointed ‘Sri Patham Thangis’. It is with the support of these volunteers that the long trips of Namperumal are managed. At the privately adminstered Vedantha Desikar Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Mylapore, the Sripatham group is completing 75years. 

In many of the temples in Mylapore, it is the Sripatham Sangam members who are involved in all the processions. Sankar told this writer that he is confident that the TN CM and the HR &CE minister will provide a favourable solution in the next few days to help them overcome the current financial stress. He said that opening up the temples will help them with positive energy and a peace of mind that is so lacking currently.  It will also help them financially as they get Sambhavanai from devotees while on a procession.