Srirangam Prabhandham Adyapaka leader Sampath Ramanujam

Dedicating his life to the Sacred Prabhandham Verses

After the passing away of long standing leader Kidambi Bashyam Iyengar, 'Kapisthalam' Sampath Ramanujam has taken over as the Saadhu Sri Vaishnava of the Prabhandham Ghoshti at the Ranganatha Swamy temple in Srirangam and is keen to create the next generation of Prabhandham Scholars

Till about half a century ago, Divya Desams in Tamil Nadu were reverberating with Prabhandham recitals all through the year. But in recent decades, with traditional Vaishnavites moving away from their ancestral locations to larger cities in search of jobs, the strength of the Prabhandham members has come down drastically in remote temples. At the Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni, MA Venkatakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/05/ma-venkatakrishnan-thiruvallikeni-divya_16.html) has been anchoring a strong team, while a long standing battle between Vadakalais and Thengalais has led to a temporary halt to the recital at the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/01/pazhaya-seevaram-battle-for-vaishnavite.html). Srirangam is the one other Divya Desam where Prabhandham recital has remained non controversial and is still vibrant with a good number of Kainkaryapakas continuing the presentation of the sacred verses of the Azhvaars both daily as well as during the big utsavam processions.

A new leader takes over after several decades

56year old Sampath Ramanujam, a descendant of Thirumalai Ananthan Pillai, has been part of the Prabhandham Ghoshti at the Srirangam temple for the last four decades from the time he was in his mid teens. In 2022, he took over as the 'Saadhu Sri Vaishnava', the leader of the strong Prabhandham team and is hoping to inspire the next gen to take to the sacred verses as part of their lives. His forefathers moved to Srirangam from Kapisthalam Gajendra Varadar Divya Desam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/07/kapisthalam-seshadri-bhattar.html) about 150 years ago and five generations of this family have been presenting the sacred verses at the Ranganathaswamy temple.  

A student of Srirangam Boys School, Sampath Ramanujam began learning Prabhandham from the time he was seven years old from Srirangam Narayana Jeer. He has been sporting a tuft right from his childhood and restrained from eating outside. Shortly after presenting the Periya Thirumozhi verses around the eight streets on Monday (March 25) morning ahead of the Panguni Uthiram celebrations, he told this writer as to how his amma Mangammal, now 91 years old (she has performed Kolam Kainkaryam for over five decades), kindled his interest in Prabhandham at an early age that has stayed with him over the last five decades "My amma had learned the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham and the Granthas and she was my first inspiration. She motivated me to learn the sacred verses and every evening after I returned from school, she would  encourage me to go to the class.”

Guided by Seniors

By the time he was into his mid teens in the early 1980s he had learned the entire Nalayira Divya Prabhandham. For a dozen years, he was to be in the back row of the ghoshti. He says that the seniors in the team kept a close watch on his presentation and guided him in the learning process “Adyapaka Kidambi Bashyam Iyengar was instrumental in initiating me into leadership. He watched me closely and guided me on the unique presentation style that continues to this day in Srirangam. It was he who taught me the important aspects of leading the Prabhandham group.”

He counts Narayanan Iyengar and Kutti Swami as having inspired him in the Prabhandham recital in the early phase, in addition to Kidambi Bashyam Iyengar.

Propagating Vishnu Bhakthi

His forefathers took it upon themselves to propagate Vaishnavism among Bhagavathas in villages. His appa TAK Krishnamachariar was the principal of the Blind School in Poonamallee. “He was a Sastra Vidwan and presented Upanyasams in villages to take Vishnu Bhakthi to the common man” says Sampath Ramanujam.

Presents Prabhandham in Thirumalai

In line with the trend of the time, Sampath Ramanujam worked as a medical representative while he continued to be part of the Prabhandham team at Srirangam. He says he was blessed to have performed Kainkaryam at Thirumalai reciting the sacred verses there.

Special Features in Srirangam - Arulicheyya as against Saathitharulaa

During the Azhvaar and Acharya annual utsavams, the prabhandham members recite the entire 4000 verses. He says that a special feature of these utsavams is that they start the recital with ‘Arulicheyya’ as against the usual ‘Saathitharulaa’ “The start of the recital with Arulicheyya is a unique feature during the Azhvaar/Acharya utsavams not seen in any other Divya Desam.”

Yet another special feature of the Prabhandham Ghosti in Srirangam is the Vahana Mandapam Kaappu “Even after Namperumal is back from the street procession and goes into the Vahana Mandapam, we continue our recital. This is very unique to this Divya Desam.”

The mettu also turns different when they recite the Iyarpa verses, especially Thiruvirutham and Ramanuja Nootranthathi, a tone and flow not experienced in any other Divya Desam.

Over 1200 Prabhandham presentations annually

The Prabhandham members at Srirangam recite the sacred verses over 1200 times every year. For this service, the Ranganathaswamy temple pays the Prabhandham Ghoshti less than Rs. 900 annually but Adyapaka Sampath Ramanujam says that they are not in this for financial returns “We have a strong 20-25 member team. There are professional well qualified auditors in the Ghoshti who have chosen to stay back in Srirangam to make the prabhandham recital an integral part of their everyday life and that is a very positive development.”

Dreams of creating the next gen of Prabhandham Scholars

Saadhu Sri Vaishnava Sampath Ramanujam is hopeful of continuing the Prabhandham recital through his entire lifetime at the Ranganathaswamy temple. He is now initiating his teenaged son into a traditional way of life teaching him the Vaishnavite Sampradaya including Thiru Aradhana Krama and Stotras. His sister too is well versed in the sacred verses. While his family members continue to perform daily Thiru Aradhanam at the Ananthan Pillai Thirumaligai on North Chitra street, Sampath Ramanujam is keen to rope in as many youngsters as possible into the Prabhandham Ghoshti so as to further strengthen the team and get the next gen to take this sacred service forward in the future. Recently, he went from home to home around the eight streets trying to convince parents to get their children initiated into the sacred verses of the Vaishnavite Saint Poets “There is a bit of inhibition currently as parents are too focused on academics but I am confident that the next generation in Srirangam will take to learning the Prabhandham verses and continue this historic tradition in the future” signs off Saadhu Sri Vaishnava Sampath Ramanujam on a positive note.