Thiru Kurungudi Jeer Mega Plans for the Mutt

Plan to treble Mutt Corpus to Rs. 50crores, confident that Kainkaryaparas will return to this Divya Desam to perform full time service- Perarulalar Ramanuja Jeer, Thiru Kurungudi Mutt

  Photo taken on Wednesday evening at the Mutt HQ

It is 15 years since Perarulalar Ramanuja Jeer took over the administration of the historic Nambi Divya  Desam in Thiru Kurungudi. He has been taking a tough stance on temple related issues and speaks on the face when confronted with real challenges. He leaves no one in doubt on what he thinks about every issue that is brought to his attention. A decade ago, when Sthaneegam Murali, who had been a long serving Kainkaryapar at the temple, was short on physical attendance for a long period of time and also travelled overseas, the Jeer took the bold step of keeping away from this service and he has not been able to come back yet. On serious temple related issues, he has always acted with clarity, though his tough and instant actions have not always gone down well with the service personnel. When Sripatham seemed to delay their presence on important occasions, he brought personnel from other Divya Desams sending out a message to all that he is a stickler for time and programme schedules.   

In August 2017, when this writer met him and asked him about the restoration of the Shiva Sannidhi, his answer was honest and straight forward “I will see to the restoration as soon as possible” he told this writer that day without any second thoughts on what he thought about the demolition.

அக்கும் புலியின் அதளும்  உடையார்

அவர் ஒருவர் பக்கம் நிற்க  நின்ற 

பண்பர் ஊர்போலும்

தக்க மரத்தின் தாழ்சினையேறி 

தாய் ;வாயில் கொக்கின் பிள்ளை 

வெள்ளிர உண்ணும் குறுங்குடியே  -Thiru Mangai Azhvaar

In June 2023, the Shiva Sannidhi was restored to be back next to Nambi Sannidhi as seen in Thiru Mangai Azhvaar's praise above and the positive vibration is now back in the Sannidhi (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/07/thiru-kurungudi-pakkam-ninnaar-shiva.html).

Soon after Azhagiya Nambi returned from his once in a year procession to the Nandavanam on the fifth day of the Vasantha Utsavam on Wednesday (May 7), Perarulalar Ramanuja Jeer took on a wide ranging set of questions from this writer and answered each one of them with great conviction in a long late evening conversation at the Mutt headquarters.

            With Maniam Ramanujar at the Vasantha Utsavam

Recovery of Temple Assets - A Transformation

Recovery of temple assets and collection of a fair rent has been an issue with temples across TN. This temple has around 6000 acres of land. When this writer posed this issue to the Jeer specifically relating to this temple, he answered with delight on how this process has progressed over the last decade or so “We have strengthened the administrative machinery. There is a GM- Administration, a CA and a retired Tahsildar for land administration. I focused on striking down forged documents and was successful in the effort. From a recovery of around 20% before my time, we have now been able to recover over 70% of the temple lands. And even more significantly, we have been able to revise upwards the rent for the temple lands and over the last decade or so have garnered fair rent from almost all the tenants."

Muslims pay on time and a fair rent

He points to the fact that almost all the lands in Eravadi (a town about 5kms from Thiru Kurungudi) belong to the Thiru Kurungudi Mutt "Most of the tenants are Muslims but each one of them pays the fair rent and on time every month.”

எங்கனேயோ அன்னைமீர்காள் என்னை முனிவது நீர் 

நங்கள் கோலத் திருக்குறுங்குடி நம்பியை நான் கண்ட பின் 

சங்கினோடும் நேமியோடும் தாமரைக் கண்களோடும் 

செங்கனிவாய் ஒன்றினோடும் செல்கின்றது என் நெஞ்சமே - Namazhvaar 

Mutt Corpus shoots up

So how has this recovery boosted the temple revenues “From a corpus of around Rs. 35lakhs at the time I took over, it has now shot up to Rs. 15crores. This has been solely due to the aggressive recovery mechanism I had put in place” he told this writer even as the Chief Priest made his way to the Mutt to share his plans for the next day’s (6th day) Vasantha Utsavam event.

Employees well paid

“When I took over, most of the employees were being paid a few hundred rupees as salary. This has now gone up to almost a five digit figure for most of them.”

Spreading the Mutt’s wings, he says he spent Rs. 1crore for the construction of the Mutt at Thiru Pullani Divya Desam and a similar amount at Thiru Kurungudi for guest houses for devotees including AC rooms.

To Treble the Mutt Corpus

The Head of the Mutt is clear with his vision and the legacy that he wants to leave at the Mutt “There are several challenges at the temple. I want to strengthen the temple coffers and give the confidence to the Kainkaryaparas that this temple is in safe hands. I want to treble the corpus to Rs. 50crores in the next phase and am confident that this will be possible through the recovery of temple lands and the payment of fair rent.”

Temple Reforms -Golden Period for Thiru Kurungudi

 He says that this is a golden period for Thiru Kurungudi Divya Desam (Vahanas too have turned Gold!!!) and points to several reforms that he has undertaken “I have streamlined a number of the processes. When I took over, the morning procession during the Brahmotsavam used to start at 8.30am and Nambi used to return in the sun. I wanted it to start at 4.30am and for the Lord to return by 6am before the heat of Panguni. While there were initial objections at this early start, everyone came to accept it and this has turned out to be a positive solution for all kainkaryaparas. Similarly, Perumalreturns from the evening procession (except on the Garuda Sevai night) by 10pm or so. And all the Kainkaryaparas are able to finish their service at a reasonable time in the night during the Brahmotsavam.”

“We have got a strong team of Sripatham personnel and I have ensured that there is no delay in processions, especially the big ones. Also, on normal days, the vishroopam was previously at 8am. I moved it to 7am and devotees can now have darshan without a break till noon.”

He is also happy in the way the Vahanas have been refurbished  “Most of the Vahanas have been upgraded to Gold during my period. The Parangi Naarkaali and Manjal Neer Chapram have been restored to its historical glory with Mural type painting.”

He says that on every utsavam day he has instructed the madapalli personnel to present Thaligai in large quantities so the devotees’ who come from far and wide are well fed. On this Nandavanam procession evening, he organised for 15 padi Dhadhyonam that the hundreds of devotees present truly enjoyed as a prasadam.

                    Jeer at the Panguni Garuda Sevai Seva Kaalam

Shortage of Kainkaryaparas - A real issue

There is a severe shortage of service personnel at the temple as was seen even on this Vasantha Utsavam Nandavanam procession on Wednesday. This writer asked if there are any plans to tackle this issue. He agrees that there is a shortage of personnel for some of the daily services inside the temple and accepts that is a real issue that he cannot run away from “TVS’ Venu Srinivasan has an open offer to the Mutt to provide a reasonable sambhavanai for all Kainkaryaparas who join the temple and that is reassuring. Next Generation is definitely to be created and I am continuously on the look out to strengthen the team but securing quality service personnel in such a remote temple is definitely a challenge as there are not many who are ready and willing to return to their hereditary locations to perform Kainkaryam. But I am confident that things will turn around on this front at this Divya Desam sometime in the future.”

(there are already a couple of positive developments on this front - story to follow soon!!!)

Mannar Koil Narasimha Gopalan - A stand out example
Asked about the future of remote temples in TN and the increasing number of challenges, he points to Narasimha Gopalan of Mannar Koil Rajagopalaswamy temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/07/mannar-koil-narasimha-gopalan-solo-act.html) as a standing example "There is some financial strength here at this Mutt and a team of service personnel that takes of utsavams but Narasimha Gopalan's has been able a solo act and he single handedly performed two large sized restoration and Samprokshanam events. He has also revived historic annual utsavams all on his own. He is a standing example for every temple archaka, especially in a remote town, as to how restoration and revival is possible even with limited personnel if one is willing to have a strong unflinching faith in God and put the required effort to manage such a huge temple."

Consecration next March at Kurungudi

The Balalayam was performed in mid April this year and following the repair and refurbishing works, the consecration will take place. “We have already fixed the date for the Samprokshanam – 25th March 2026- a week before the start of the Brahmotsavam next year and hence those involved can work backwords to finish the work on time.” 

Securing Mutt's rights at Azhvaar Tirunagari

He is also happy at the way he fought for traditional rights at Azhvaar Tirunagari and secured for different Mutts during the Vaikasi Azhvaar Utsavam. “Another Mutt wanted rights for all the ten days of the utsavam but as per historic tradition, there was a ratio to be followed with those that observed the maximum Chaturmasya getting more days. I fought for it and secured different days for different Mutts during this utsavam.”

A 45 minute walk around the outer prakara

It is 8pm on this Vasantha Utsavam Wednesday evening (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2025/05/thiru-kurungudi-nambi-nandavanam.html) and time for the Jeer to go on a 45 minute Prakaram Pradakshinam walk that is part of his daily routine to keep himself fit and energised. He also spends 15 minutes sitting at the temple entrance after the walk just to enjoy the evening breeze. Presenting Adirasam prasadam to this writer, he bids goodbye with the message that this Divya Desam temple will be greatly strengthened during his time and be financially self sustaining in the coming decades. 

It is a message that will be greatly reassuring to the Kainkaryaparas and the staffers.  With a strong financial support both from the Mutt and TVS’s Venu Srinivasan, it is hoped that more kainkaryaparas will return to Thiru Kurungudi in the times to come to perform full time service at this Azhvaars’ praised temple.