Pinna Vaasal Sowri Rajan Bhattar

Father and Son have performed archaka service at the Varadaraja Perumal Temple in Ayyur for six decades at a salary that has not topped Rs. 100

The temple has been in a dilapidated state with Thiru Kottaram and Madapalli almost unrecognisable with fallen roofs and walls - Will the HR &CE restore the temple to its ancient glory and revive the once grand Brahmotsavam and Garuda Sevai on Vaikunta Ekadasi 

I want to see the Restored Temple Samprokshanam before I attain Moksham - 86 year old Rajagopalan Bhattar, who performed service for over four decades

                         Sowri Rajan Bhattar 

For over four decades, D Rajagopalan Iyengar of Pinna Vasal, a location 10kms South of Tiruvarur, cycled 7kms one way twice a day to the centuries old Varadaraja Perumal temple in Ayyur to perform archaka service. He was paid Rs. 30 a month and 6Kalam of Paddy for this service. Till the middle of the previous century, Brahmotsavam was an integral part of this temple. Garuda Sevai on the Vaikunta Ekadasi day was a procession that the devotees eagerly looked forward to every year.There was a 5 veli land belonging to the temple and the temple was managed out of the income accruing from the temple land. Hereditary Trustee Pankaja Ammal took care of the temple management and the utsavams. Sokka Paanai on Karthigai was another event that devotees were part of. In Margazhi, Thirupalli Yezhuchi was a daily event in the morning with devotees gathering early for darshan and presentation of the sacred verses.

After finishing pooja at Ayyur (7kms South of Pinnai Vaasal), Rajagopalan Iyengar came back to Pinnai Vaasal and then  walked or cycled 3kms North East to the Ramaswamy Temple in Vayalur off Maavur. This was his routine each day of the year. He was paid Rs. 100 per month and about 2Kalam paddy every month for his service at the Ramaswamy temple. 

He is 86 now and short on eyesight but the glory days of the service at Ayyur and Vayalur is still fresh in his memory “Utsavams were celebrated in a grand way, devotees came in from the agraharam for darshan and processions of Varadaraja Perumal around the four streets were well supported by the devotees. The hereditary trustee ran the temple well.”

He lived a contented life in the agraharam at Pinna Vaasal, where he continues to reside. However, as decades passed by, the finances were not enough to sustain the family. Rajagopalan Iyengar’s son Sowri Rajan went to school in Mayiladuthurai and later took up a job at SPIC in Madras. At the start of this decade, when Rajagopalan Iyengar’s health began to fail, Sowri Rajan quit his job and returned to Pinna Vaasal to take up the archaka service at these two temples. For close to two decades, he has been performing daily service at Ayyur and Vayalur and four other temples!!!

Following the takeover by the HR&CE of the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Ayyur, things went worse. The temple is almost unrecognizable now with a dilapidated Raja Gopuram. Once upon a time in the not too distant past there was a big sized Kottaram where Paddy was stored and measured. There was also a fully functional Madapalli to the South of the Raja Gopuram. Service Personnel including paricharakars were active at this temple. 

In the recent past, Thiru Kottaram has collapsed as has the Madapalli. There was a huge Nandavanam in the outer prakara but it now resembles a mini forest. The most scary of them all is the entrance into the Varadaraja Perumal Sannidhi. Every morning, as Sowri Rajan Bhattar enters the Sanctum, he invokes the blessings of the Lord to take him back safe to Pinna Vaasal that day for it resembles how Erettai Tirupathi (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/02/erettai-tirupathi-transformation.html) was in the 1980s. Big stones, that have fallen by the wayside from the roof, lay on either side of the path leading to the Sanctum. Thick bushes have grown leading to the possibility of presence of dangerous reptiles inside the Sannidhi. There are cracks on the walls. There is no lighting inside the temple. 

Unmindful of its present state, Sowri Rajan Bhattar is at the temple every morning to light the lamp in the Sannidhi and to perform the Thiru Aradhanam. He also brings the Thaligai from home and presents it Varadaraja Perumal. For over a decade he too cycled his way to both the Ayyur Temple as well as the Vayalur temple. With him now taking care of Thiru Aradhanam at 6 temples around Pinna Vaasal, he travels by a motor cycle and finishes the morning pooja in these temples between 7am and noon every day. 

For his daily aradhanam at the Varadaraja Perumal temple, he is to be paid a monthly salary of Rs. 100 and 5 kalam Paddy. But this has been pending for the last four years and he has not received anything in cash or kind (paddy) in this period. Photos of the dilapidated state of the Ayyur temple have been sent to the HR & CE but so far no action has been taken to restore the temple. 

In addition to the temples in Ayyur and Vayalur, Sowri Raja Bhattar, now past 50, also performs Aradhanam at Palayur, Paangal, Velathur and Kothangudi. He lights the lamp and presents Thaligai from devotee contributions but in periods when there is no support from the devotees, he funds these from the income received from these other temples. 

Maha Mandapam - Roof has fallen off

While the larger temples in the state including the Divya Desams are reasonably taken care of well by the devotees, temples such as these dating back centuries have been in neglected state. The HR & CE has not been interested in these temples as the Hundi income is minimal / nil and it is not financially worth their time and effort to take care of these temples. The EO of the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Ayyur is stationed in Nagapattinam but he rarely visits. Sowri Rajan Bhattar continues to carry the aradhanam service that had been performed by his father for four decades but one has to wonder as to how long one can continue a service at an ‘unpaid’ salary of Rs. 100. 

Sowri Rajan Bhattar at the Sannidhi - Pathway to the Sanctum

It is hoped that the HR & CE will take efforts to restore this temple and revive the utsavams including the Brahmotsavam and the Garuda Sevai at Ayyur.  Consecration has not taken place in over a century. 86 year old Rajagopalan Bhattar, whose eyesight has deteriorated in recent years, has as his one last wish the opportunity to have darshan of the Restored Temple Samprokshanam before he attains Moksham. He has the fullest faith that Varadaraja Perumal will fulfil this wish of his.

How to reach:

Pinna Vaasal Agraharam is 10kms South of Tiruvarur on the Thiruthuraipoondi highway after Mavur. Ayyur is 7kms South East of Pinna Vaasal and 3kms South East of Katchanam off the Thiruvarur- Thithuraipoondi Highway. First Town bus from Thiruvarur to Pinna Vaasal at 4.30am. Regular buses ply every half hour between Thiruvarur and Thiruthuraipoondi.

Broad Gauge rail services too has resumed between Thiruvarur and Thiruthuraipoondi with Stations at Mavur and Thiru Nellikaval.