A non GOD believing Govt but a slogging tireless man at the helm takes consecration to an all time high
It is exactly a fortnight to go for the TN Assembly elections. Tamil Nadu has seen a five year rule where the Government in power did not believe in the existence of God and saw the idols inside temples as just simple stones. But the Government in power had a man at the helm of the HRCE department who with a chequered history has gone on to become the most ‘in your face’ man over the last five years as he has taken advantage of the devotional wave that has swept the TN temples and gone one to create a record on the consecration front.
His Personal Devotion manifests in many temples
PK Sekar Babu would sit quietly near the Dwajasthambam at the Parthasarathy Perumal Koil temple in Thiruvallikeni invoking the blessings of Parthasarathy and Narasimha with his eyes closed with his team members not knowing when their boss’s eyes will open. Not far away at the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore, one praised in the same verse as Thiruvallikeni by Thiru Mangai Azhvaar, he would hush away HRCE staffers to listen to every issue raised by every day devotees of Karpagambal assuring them that their problems will be looked into.
Almost a 1000 kms away at the Kulasekara Azhvaar Rajagopalaswamy temple in Mannar Koil, near Ambasamudram, he would ask all his team members to stay away from VIP darshan allowing the priest/acharya at the temple to show him the way and act as per the traditions at the temple. When the low salary of that priest was brought to his notice by this writer, he immediately increased in manifold while at the same time pointing out that this was not possible across the thousands of temples and that each would have to be governed by the income of the respective temple.
Sekar Babu has his detractors and many at that who have continuously hit out at him during this five year stint but unmindful of the non-stop criticism he has gone about his work in a way none of his predecessors have over the last many decades.
Goes after 'Consecration Target' aggressively
It is normal for those at the top of the leadership board in corporates to have sales and profit targets and that is something the shareholders of the company keep a close watch on. But Sekar Babu at the beginning of this stint as the HRCE minister set out a huge target for himself in the restoration of ancient temples and remote ones at that.
The second half of the previous decade was one marked by a sharp decline in renovations following the High court order restraining restoration activities in temples. The application for repair works came tumbling down and at its low it had touched a level of just 500. This section has written many stories on how consecration did not take place for several decades in many temples in the previous century.
Even in the temple as renowned as the Azhagiya Nambi Rayar Divya Desam in Thiru Kurungudi the first full fledged consecration took place last month after a gap of over 110 years driven by various factors including financial.
Sekar Babu set a stiff target of performing over 4000 consecrations during his reign as the HRCE minister and went about this aggressively. Contrasted with the apprehension relating to renovation activities in the previous phase about which this section had featured a story in 2019 (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/02/renovation-issues-in-tn-temples.html), he went about restoration exercises aggressively. While the very existence of God was questioned on one side, he took it upon himself to anchor the consecration events and create a positive vibration inside temples.
In the decade or two prior, not many even in the temple circles had ever seen the HRCE minister but Sekar Babu made it a point to visit every temple small and big, city and remote. He was there physically on important occasions keeping his staffers on their toes. At the HRCE headquarters as this writer noticed during his reign, the staff had to be update on every pending matter for he had it on his finger tips. Applications for renovations were approved quickly and with devotee donors queuing up to contribute to temples, the authorities took to renovation exercises with sharp deadlines.
For example, at the Srinivasa Perumal temple in Nachiyar Koil, now globally renowned for Kal Garuda Sevai, a mega restoration exercise was completed in a year.
Consecrations help Kainkaryaparas
Even for the detractors - the Brahmin Kainkaryaparas at thousands of temples in the state- there seemed to a positive turnaround in their fortunes. By 2026, Sekar Babu had beaten his target that any CEO of a corporate firm would have been proud of. Under his leadership, consecration has been performed in 4500 temples in TN, an unprecedented number.
Consecrations are largely through devotee donors. The income through hundi collection too are through devotees as well. What Sekar Babu has done is to leverage the heightened interest among devotees to participate in events and utsavams and to improve the physical infrastructure at temples and revive utsavams.
What did this mean to the Kainkaryaparas. Every consecration was preceded by 2-3-4 day homam event with recital of the vedic and sacred verses being an integral part of it. Hundreds of Kainkaryaparas benefitted financially in a big way from every such consecration event( this too through devotee donors). The Priests of remote temples about whom this section has featured stories in the past, have all benefitted through the restoration exercises. There are priests and their team members who have participated in 100s of such consecration events in this phase.
Huge Crowd throng temples
The 4500 consecration events have seen the return of positive vibration in temples with devotees especially in village temples believing that the new look temple will help in the revival in their fortunes. Increased crowd in these temples is leading to more income for the priests at these temples. Annadhanam is at an all time high in over 30 temples with through the day food in large temples such as Srirangam.
During this phase, rope cars have been introduced at Sholingur and Ayyarmalai and lifts at Swami Malai and Maruthamalai. Also, previously unheard of, Sekar Babu has initiated a special tour for senior citizens taking them to Arupadai Veedu, Rameswaram and Kasi.
Remote Divya Desams that had seen a struggle for many decades are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Sirupuliyur is one such. The one legged Srikanthan Bhattar had told this writer last month as to how the dilapidated chariot has been restored in the last few years and the Brahmotsavam procession has taken place. Chariot Processions that had stopped in many temples have been revived.
This writer was the first to write a piece on the huge Rs. 15crore allocation for the Thiruvalluvar temple in Mylapore. The consecration of that temple took place earlier this year.
He is not stopping here. Currently, there are repair works taking place in close to 13000 temples!!!! Sekar Babu claims that over 8000 acres of temple lands have been recovered adding to a huge income to temples in TN.
New Raja Gopuram at Thiru Vellarai
At Pundarikaksha Perumal Divya Desam in Thiru Vellarai, it is under his directions that the construction of the Raja Gopuram on the Northern side has taken off and is going at a great speed. The towering 100+ feet new Raja Gopuram is likely to see its consecration next year.
While the Government continues to hold its position on the existence of God, this man has earned devotional rewards from the almighty helping pull in huge crowds to temples. For five years, Sekar Babu has worked tirelessly on the transformational revival of temples across the state. This morning when this writer called him as early as 6am, he picked up the call!!! Last year, when there was a big issue relating to the Srirangam temple, he picked up this writer’s call well past 11pm and jokingly pointed out ‘I may pick your call after 11pm, but the temple JC may not pick my call this late in the night and that we will solve this problem the next morning.”
During this period, he has worked round the clock and has always been available to solve temple issues, patiently listening to the devotee voice to which ever temple he went. And that is not something devotees have experienced with those earlier.
And in this above issue, indeed that problem was solved the next day!!!
