Kidambi Narayanan Upanyasakar

From Udumalpet Govt School to a Popular Upanyasakar at 60

In his role as a full fledged spiritual lecturer, he wants to 'elevate' people and influence them towards a Dharmic Path

The experience of watching Rajagopalaswamy go around the four Mada streets of Palayamkottai on different vahanas during his childhood followed by round the year Namasankeerthanam and Bhajans in Udumalpet has had an everlasting impact on Kidambi Narayanan who, at 60, has turned into a full time Upanyasakar. Within six months of promotion as an officer at IOB in the mid 1990s, he reversed the elevation and remained a clerk so as to focus on his interest in Epics and Scriptures.  Taking up voluntary retirement six years ahead of time and sporting a tuft, he has, over the last few years, carved a name for himself as an Upanyasakar and is quite in demand with temples and sabhas queuing to book his slot. On a Puratasi Saturday, he will make his way to the Kasturi Ranganatha Perumal temple in Erode (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/04/kasthuri-ranganatha-perumal-erode.html) for a talk on Thiruvenkatamudayan and the verses of praise by the Azhvaars on the Lord of Thirumalai. As a young boy, who listened to the commentary of Alan McGilvary, Brian Johnston and Tony Cozier in the 1970s, he aspired to become a cricket commentator (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/cricket-tales-12-memorable-cricket.html).  While he did not pursue that path, he has over the last decade been part of the commentary team describing the Puratasi Brahmotsavam procession in Tirumalai. A resident of Thiruvallikeni for the last three decades, he hopes to spend the rest of his lifetime spreading dharmic messages through his Upanyasams. Here’s the story.

Early Childhood with Rajagopalaswamy, Palayamkottai

Born in Azhvaar Tirunagari, Kidambi Narayanan spent the first ten years of his life on the South Mada Street near the historical Rajagopalaswamy temple in Palayamkottai (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2010/01/veda-narayana-rajagopalaswamy.html). He recounts the experience of a life in the late 1960s around the huge temple “My Thatha was an adyapaka at the temple and he would take me to the temple everyday. While I did play a little bit of tennis ball cricket, almost my entire life outside of school revolved around the temple watching processions and being positively influenced by the Prabhandham Ghosti. Even at home, I spent a lot of time with a small idol that I decorated as per the Utsavams at the temple.”

Temple Utsavams to Naamasankeerthanam and Bhajans

While he was thus enjoying his early childhood in the Palayamkottai agraharam, his appa Krishnan found a job opportunity in faraway Udumalpet in West Tamil Nadu, a town where the textile sector was booming. If Palayamkottai provided him with early insights into Perumal’s street processions and prabhandham ghosti, Udumalpet introduced him to Namasankeerthanam and Bhajans through his teenage phase in the 1970s.

Dreams of becoming a Cricket Commentator

Soundararajan, owner of Sri Venkateswarar Paper Boards (SVPB), was a cricket fanatic. He was looking at building a strong cricket team in Udumalpet (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html). By the turn of that decade, he had turned the team into one that could challenge the best in the state. Kidambi Narayanan studied in the Government School where M Senthilnathan(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/01/m-senthilnathan-udumalpet-mrf-india-u19.html), on whom Soundar placed great hopes, was a few years junior. Early stars such as Peter Fernandez (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/varun-chakravarthy-coach-peter-fernandez.html) and S Sukumar kindled his interest in cricket and he began to watch them at the nets and the matches that were played in Udumalpet.  Listening to cricket on the radio kindled his interest to become a cricket commentator but that did not take off though that early interest did yield results later on in life.

That decade in Udumalpet was all about Namasankeerthanam and Bhajans as Kidambi Narayanan recalls “Srinivasan Iyengar who provided appa with a job was a great devotee. He organised Upanyasams through the Aadi month at Rama Iyer Kalyana Mandapam. And there was a huge crowd at these events. He spent a lot of money in taking care of Bhagavathas. My religious interest took off in a big way thanks to the Naamasankeerthanam and Bhajans organised in Udumalpet.”

His appa later worked at the Gypsum Mines of Raman Iyengar, brother of Srinivasan Iyengar. Kidambi Narayanan says that the two brothers took great care of his family and “we were never ‘short of anything’ in that phase”.

“We presented Weekend Bhajans in Puratasi at the Sainik School in Amaravathi. I would play the harmonium (my amma initiated me into this). Srinivasan Iyengar was a great admirer of Krishnapremi Anna and his presence in Udumalpet elevated our devotional spirits. It was a most enjoyable phase as I straddled between academics and these religious endeavours.”

When a competition was held in Coimbatore on Kamban Ramayanam songs, Kidambi Narayanan won the third prize. It was solely driven by the interest created by Srinivasan Iyengar.

By the time he completed his graduation in Commerce from the Govt Arts College, Udumalpet he had already cleared the BSRB examination and a few months later was allotted to IOB. Though he joined the Central office - considered to be a prestigious posting - on Mount Road in 1982, he soon returned to Kanaiyur near Udumalpet and worked for a decade in this region. During that decade, he continued to engage in Namasankeerthanam and Bhajans. “I had become so close to Srinivasan Iyengar that just a month before his death, he took me on a trip to meet devotee donors for the upcoming Upanyasams.”

The Transformational Process

It was his move to Madras in the early 1990s, soon after his wedding that saw a transformation in his life. His parents had lived in Thiruvallikeni in the 1950s and he too chose the same location. Though he had already completed his CAIIB, he gave up the opportunity to scale up to the officer level (he did receive the promotion in the mid 90s and moved to Tirunelveli as an officer but within six months reversed that to continue as a clerk). 

At Palayamkottai, he was into enjoying the utsavams and idol decoration at home. He spent two decades at Udumalpet amidst a pool of devotees who were immersed in Naamasankeerthanam and Bhajans. And into his 30s, he moved into learning the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham and attending Upanyasams “It was P Parthasarathy, an adyapaka at the Parthasarathy Perumal temple in Thiruvallikeni who initiated me into Prabhandham and encouraged me to join the Ghosti in the street processions.”

His father in law, a Tamil professor at the Vaishnava College, presented Upanyasams and attending those led him to became engrossed in spiritual lectures.  While he had read cricket books (including Neville Cardus) and sports pages of The Hindu during his school and college days, for the first time he became interested in spiritual literature “The interest in religious books including our Sampradayam and Guru Paramparai was an important phase in my journey. I  began to read extensively."

And one day he gathered the confidence to ask his father in law if he could present an upanyasam too. Kumaravadi Embar Jeer organised monthly meetings on Sampradayam where biggies such as Thiru Kudanthai Thiruvenkadathan and Bhagavathar Paranthaman presented. In 2001, he presented his debut Upanyasam on Piratti Vaibhavam at the Srinivasa Perumal temple in Mogappaire for about 15 minutes. Soon after, he presented at the Athi Jagannathan Perumal temple in Thirumazhisai on Naanmughan Thiruvanthathi.

In that phase, he listened extensively to the lectures of Velukkudi Varadachariar through the then popular audio cassettes. “I absorbed a great deal from his presentations and this helped me understand the whole process of communicating Dharmic messages to the audience and capturing their attention.”

Full Fledged Debut at Vaanamalai Mutt

In 2003, he received a call from Karpoora Swamy, the agent of the Vaanamamalai Mutt(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2010/04/vanamamalai-thothadri-nathan-nanguneri.html?m=1), asking him to present the Thiruppavai during Margazhi “It was a most prestigious platform. I considered the opportunity to make my full fledged Upanyasam debut at the Headquarters of the Mutt as a great blessing.

Every evening after returning from the bank, he would sit and prepare. “I made exhaustive notes ahead of Margazhi and prepared an extensive script for the month long presentation. It was one of my biggest moments in my life and feel blessed to have debuted at the Mutt headquarters.”

Back to Udumalpet to present Upanyasams

In memory of his happy childhood days in Palayamkottai and Udumalpet, he went back and presented Upanyasams in those two locations as well rekindling memories from the 1960s and 70s. Presenting the popular Aadi Upanyasam at the Rama Iyer Kalyana Mandapam has given him special delight for it was there that he listened to the popular scholars of the 1970s present historical episodes from the Epics.

A Gem of a Person

Former Ranji cricketer NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html)who too worked in IOB for a brief period in the late 1970s and early 80s, did the unthinkable of moving away from Madras and settling down in Udumalpet playing for SVPB for well over a decade. Well past sixty, he continues to be active working for the group firm. He has been anchoring the upanyasam events in Udumalpet over the last many years and has roped in all the leading Upanyasakars there with most of them staying in his house. 

He has found Kidambi Narayanan to be a soft spoken person whose feet are firmly on the ground “He is a gem of a person, quite unassuming and very cooperative. He has a good voice and a ‘good clientele’ of his own. He seems to be do these Upanyasams as part of his duty of spreading Dharmic messages.”

Sincere, Committed and Hardworking

A longtime resident of Thiruvallikeni K Parthasarathy anchored the Treasury function at IOB and retired as GM a couple of years back after almost four decades of donning various hats including overseas assignments. In the years prior to his retirement he also held the additional post taking on the HR role. He has seen Kidambi Narayanan for several decades and was the one who accepted his VRS. He is particularly happy that his former colleague is spending a lot of time these days on religious side, something that he had not seen till the time he was active at the bank “He was very sincere, committed and hard working. He proactively and voluntarily reached out to all senior citizens customers and helped them. He was knowledgeable and worked diligently, eight hours a day. Unfortunately he could not take the promotion as an officer for personal reasons. For that same reason, when he reached out seeking VRS I agreed and gave the go ahead”, says Parthasarathy.

Sabhas, Temples and Worldwide audience through online

Over the last decade, he has presented Upanyasams in most of the leading Sabhas in Madras, testimony to his coming of age in this field. During the Pandemic and after, he has also moved into the online model and is finding good traction there. These days he is much in demand and travelling across the state. Last year, he presented an Upanyasam at Thiru Kurungudi  (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/08/thiru-kurungudi-divya-desam.html) during the Panguni Brahmotsavam. This week he will turn a Commentator describing the Puratasi Brahmotsavam at Tirumalai, a role he has donned for the last many years.

A Big Transformation

It has been a big transformation for the lad who spent the first thirty years of his life in Palayamkottai and Udumalpet. The strong spiritual foundation from those early years in those remote locations has held him in good stead in this new endeavor of reaching out to an audience that is looking for solace more than ever before. In that sense, Kidambi Narayanan has timed his move right to quit the banking job after almost 35 years. There is a huge demand now for spiritual lectures in temples and sabhas alike.  

Soon after he quit the bank, he began to sport a new traditional look including a tuft for the first time in his life. He turned 60 this year and is entering a new phase in his life. He is now cherishing the new found freedom to present the epics in an interesting way and spreading dharmic messages from historical episodes to audiences across the state and around the world through the online model. He is of the view that the spiritual lectures offer him an opportunity to be an everlasting influence on the audience if the right messages are presented in a way that they understand. In this endeavour, he is constantly embellishing his knowledge spending most of his time reading the scriptures. He says that Upanyasam has the power to be a 'Social Reformation' weapon and is hopeful of ‘elevating’ the audience through his lectures.  This he sees as his way of life in the foreseeable future.