Madhava Perumal Temple Mylapore Consecration delayed

No Moolavar darshan since February this year,  unlikely till Karthigai

The Temple authorities' delay in seeking and getting approval for repair works leads to a delay in consecration

The consecration of the Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore has been further delayed with the temple receiving approval from the renovation committee only now for additional works. This writer had written multiple stories earlier this year that the consecration was likely to take place in Vaikasi or latest by Aani based on the repair works planned at that time. The Balalayam had taken place on February 9 this year and since then devotees have not been able to have Moolavar darshan of Perumal and Thayar.

Venu's Trust completes work in June

Venu Srinivasan’s Trust that had taken up the repair works have received a completion certificate in June from the HR & CE for the works assigned to them but now the temple has received approval  for more repair works and that has meant that the consecration will be delayed by at least another three months. The painting of the Vimanams and the Raja Gopuram has been completed and the EO of the temple had been informed by Venu’s Trust about the completion of the works handed to them and subsequently a certificate too has been handed by the temple to the TVS Trust confirming the completion of the works.

But on Monday evening, the Chief Priest was seen telling devotees that the earliest the consecration could take place was in Karthigai because the roofing work above the Moolavar Sannidhi is likely to take at least one month from the time the work starts. And one does not even know as to who is going to take up this work.

Not able to have moolavar darshan and disappointed with the indefinite delay in the consecration, regular devotees to the temple have begun moving to the Adhi Kesava Perumal temple.

In the meanwhile, next gen priest Ashwin Bhattar, son of Chief Priest Sundar Bhattar, is getting married in the first week of September.

Western Entrance to be re-opened

This writer had also written stories earlier on how the western entrance of the temple was likely to be re-opened after decades as part of the consecration. Devotees to the temple would know that the western entrance opposite the Mundakanni Amman temple has remained shut for decades and they have had to make their way only through the Eastern Raja Gopuram.

The approval order for the fencing of the Nandavanam on the western side as a result of the re-opening of the western entrance too has been received only now.

With the TVS Trust having received the official estimate from the temple authorities for the roofing work only on Monday, it is not known yet if they will take up this work as well (for the original work assigned to them did not include the roofing assignment) or if the HR &CE will do it on their own through their engineers.

No Utsavams, No trip to Avathara Sthalam

Either way, it is unlikely the Samprokshanam will take place in the next couple of months and hence the devotees will miss the Navarathri Utsavam and darshan of the Moolavar on Puratasi Saturdays. This writer had also featured a story earlier on the restoration of the Avathara Sthalam on Arundel street and the annual trip to that location. There has been no progress on that as well in terms of plans to restore the dilapidated mandapam and hence it is unlikely that the historical trip will be restored this year.

Why the temple authorities did not seek approval earlier?

The re-opening of the western entrance after decades and the consequent changes to the Nandavanam on the west side as well as the retiling of the roof above the Moolavar Sannidhi was known ahead of the original renovation exercise. One wonders as to why the temple authorities did not seek approval of these as well with the renovation committee as part of the original repair works and why this has come only now after the TVS Trust has completed the works assigned to them.

This section had only recently featured a story on the fast paced renovation works at the huge Nachiyar Koil in Thiru Naraiyur Divya Desam thanks to the efforts of Gopinathan Bhattar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/08/nachiyar-koil-gopi-bhattar.html) and how despite the large scale renovation, the consecration is slated for Aipasi well within a year of the work having commenced. Unfortunately for the devotees at the Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore, there will continue to be no darshan of the Moolavar till at least Karthigai this year (and that will be a monsoon phase in the city) because of the delay by the temple authorities in seeking and getting approval from the renovation committee. Already, the crowd has dwindled in the last many months as they have missed the Moolavar darshan. It is saddening that a historical temple in the heart of the city and within a few kilometers of the HR & CE headquarters is seeing such slow progress in approvals.